


My Dragonfire Soul

by OfStarsAndFireflies



Series: Dragonfire [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Bottom Tony Stark, Dragons, Dragons turned human, Dreams, Established Relationship, Hurt Stephen Strange, Hurt Tony Stark, Husbands in love, Jealous Steve Rogers, Kidnapped Tony Stark, M/M, Non- con Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, One-Sided Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Riding, Soft Husbands, Top Stephen Strange, Visions, peter is a cutie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:46:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 44,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23424169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfStarsAndFireflies/pseuds/OfStarsAndFireflies
Summary: An old enemy seizes his chance for revenge, which he has been plotting for close to 20 years, against the king who married a Dragon instead of him and will use any means necessary to have him for his own.WARNING!This is a sequel to My Dragonfire Heart.If you haven’t read that story you might not be able to follow what happens in this one.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Series: Dragonfire [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1547503
Comments: 75
Kudos: 155
Collections: IronStrange





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I have returned!
> 
> I was going insane with the editing process so I decided to stop before I could change anything else. 
> 
> Comments are appreciated and keep me going, and I look forward to getting the next chapter out to you guys within the next month or so!

Stephen’s hand rested against the soft parchment as he finished writing the last letter to the last ally, thanking them for attending King Howard’s funeral. 

Tony would have done it himself, but he had asked to be left alone, going to the room they shared without another word. 

Stephen had been more than prepared to give him all the space he required ever since Howard’s passing just a few days ago, but the visiting lords and townsfolk seeking an audience with their King had taken priority, Tony all too happy to grant them his time despite needing it to grieve. 

He’d been like this ever since he had taken over being King for Howard some years back; hours stretching into days as he worked with blacksmiths to better perfect their weapons and armours for their army, countless meetings and negotiations with numerous allies to insure they could rely on their help should they require it and endless discussions about what could be done to better their relationships with one another. 

He hardly ate.   
He hardly slept.   
And when he did, he seemed unable to rest completely or eat enough. 

Constant worry for his people.   
Constant whispers behind his back.   
And somehow, though they were married, they managed to have even less time together than when they were preparing for the roles they now held. 

It had been twenty years since Stephen had become mortal and just a little less than that since his wedding to the Prince he had given up his immortality for. 

To Stephen, time had flown by in what felt like a matter of minutes, although time was never really a concept to him two hundred years ago, when he had scales instead of skin. 

Stephen poured some red wax onto the letter and stamped it with the Stark seal before adding it to a small pile and then handing the pile to the guard stationed beside him, leaning back in his chair as the guard bowed to him and left. 

His eyes caught the shine from the ring upon his finger, and a sad smile tugged at his lips. 

Howard had been the one to surprise them both with two new rings fashioned from one of Stephen’s scales and the pieces of the broken ring Tony had given him for their wedding. 

Tony’s had more scale than Stephen’s and only had one piece of his father’s ring while Stephen’s had the remaining two. 

But each time he looked at it, he was also reminded of the one who had made this ring a possibility. 

News of Tony’s miraculous recovery would have reached the neighboring kingdom of Azule not long after its newly crowned King sunk a dagger into his chest.   
It was the only thing anyone had talked about for months on end, but there had been no attack like they both had thought there would be. 

Azule had gone quiet, something Tony especially was suspicious of, and the recent news his allies had told them of only added to his never ending list of worries. 

They all said the same thing.   
There had been some strange stirrings in Azule, although no one really knew the exact truth as there were countless variations of what those ‘stirrings’ were. 

One lord claimed it was preparing for war while another said it was scripting a peace treaty. 

Tony, of course, knew better than to believe either ‘truth’ but one thing was for certain.   
Azule was preparing for something and Tony didn’t want to be caught off guard if those preparations involved him and his people. 

But no matter how many times Stephen tried to tell him that he saw no attack from Azule in their future, Tony wasn’t going to leave anything to chance. 

Stephen stood from the desk, pushing his old cloak out from behind him as he did so and walked out of the room, turned left, and stared at the old stone wall, placing his hand upon it. 

Tony had tasked him with refortifying the spells and charms placed on the castle and boundary of the kingdom Wong had previously placed when they had still been children. 

It had sounded like a simple enough job and if it made Tony worry about one less thing he was all for it, so he’d agreed and Tony had given him a relieved smile before turning back to the conversation he’d been in the middle of with another visitor. 

What Stephen hadn’t expected however, was how many spells there were, or how some needed to overlap in a certain order, or how big and little space each spell needed.   
And that was just the castle!

The task he’d assumed he’d get completed in a couple of days was taking months by himself, and he had soon found himself falling into the same bad habits as his King. 

Stephen turned from the wall and continued on his way to his tower, passing guards and servants as they went about their duties and dully remembering he could have just portaled to his desired location instead of walking. 

He hadn’t slept in three days and he couldn’t remember the last time he had done so with Tony resting at his side, making him all the more anxious to see him. 

It wasn’t that sleep was not uncommon to Stephen now, he would sleep maybe once or twice a month before he became mortal and found the process of falling asleep the first few nights after his marriage to be quite slow, but he’d gotten the hang of it over time. 

But now with how busy their schedules were, he mostly grabbed a few hours in his tower when he remembered to so as not to disturb Tony’s rest. 

That was if Tony was resting in the first place. 

Half the time he would find him working on the suit of armour he’d been building or still in a meeting looking like he was ready to fall over at any given moment. 

Stephen would then take it upon himself to make sure his King was getting at least some rest and nourishment and more often than not would create a portal right under him, stealing him away from his project or visitors 

The fancy lords and their bickering didn’t interest Stephen.   
He would take his King’s place and sit in silence, arms folded and eyes closed while they yelled about how he couldn’t just whisk King Anthony away in the middle of an important discussion, no matter the hour. 

He had tried arguing with them in the past, but found now that was completely useless.   
They didn’t care how long Tony had been up for with no food or rest, all they cared about was what they wanted. 

And if one really got on Stephen’s nerves they soon found themselves dropped into the most unlikely of places, like the pond out in the garden or on top of a flag post on the highest point on the castle. 

He climbed the stairs and opened the door to the old tower.

It looked the same as it always had aside from the layer of dust that coated everything and the spiderwebs that were sheltering in high dark corners and in the gaps between the old books. 

He made his way to his old room, dropping down onto the bed. 

He wanted to go to Tony and check on him, see if he wanted something to eat or maybe just need some company so he didn’t feel alone. 

But Stephen couldn’t pretend he wasn’t grieving for the third father he had known and had had to say goodbye to. 

It was all because of King Howard that he had met and grown up along side Tony. 

The night King Howard walked back into his castle with Stephen in one arm and his somehow now alive new born son in the other had been the very first time Stephen had felt safe in the presence of a human. 

A few nights later when a sleep deprived Howard ran to his suspiciously quiet son’s room only to find Stephen had climbed into the cot and the Prince had finally fallen asleep in his arms had been the first time he had felt trust from a human. 

And for every day up until his last, King Howard had never made Stephen feel anything less then safe and trusted. 

Stephen rolled over, trying to untangle his mind from its memories, his eyes wandering to his old bookcase where he kept his old treasures from his youth, each holding a special memory he shared with Tony. 

That was when he recognised one of the objects sitting on the second highest shelf and he grabbed it with one hand while creating a portal into their room with the other.

Upon entering the dark room, he saw Tony was laying on their bed with his back to him. 

Stephen sat on the edge of the bed, his hip resting slightly into Tony’s back.   
Tony didn’t move or say anything to acknowledge him. 

Maybe he was sleeping? He needed it after the long week he’d had. 

Stephen laid the object he had brought with him in front of him and stood up from the bed. 

The reaction was immediate. 

Tony curled in on himself, pulling the old toy monkey closer to him and Stephen sat back down, close enough if Tony needed him and silent if he didn’t. 

Finally, Tony sat up a little, wiping his red eyes and flushed cheeks, resting the old toy in his lap. 

He looked down at it. 

“Who are we going to leave the Kingdom to after we’re gone?”

“You shouldn’t be thinking of such things.” Stephen said gently. 

Tony looked exhausted and went easily into the bed when Stephen laid the both of them down, drifting off to sleep with Tony in his arms and the toy monkey between them. 

When Stephen awoke however, he was alone. 

~.~

Tony got back into the swing of addressing the towns people who came to him with their questions and needs during the afternoon after spending almost ten hours in the armoury.   
Upon entering it to drag Tony out, Stephen had tripped over one of the pieces of armour Tony had been working on for months and when he took in the rest of the room, found that Tony had been making a hell of a mess. 

“It helps me concentrate.” was the only answer Stephen had gotten when he asked what on earth he was doing, as if that was the only logical answer to his rather justified question. 

Stephen decided to stand at his side in case someone brought up the touchy subject of the previous King, but at the end of the third day he’d just about had enough. 

While it was true he’d had no real answer to his King’s question about who to leave the kingdom to, after the day he had just slogged through he knew to blame the townsfolk for putting that very question in Tony’s head in the first place.   
Nearly all of them had forced him to hear different variations of the exact same thing. 

“Such a joyous day it was when your birth was announced, King Anthony! We celebrated your arrival into the world for nearly a whole week! When can we expect the same kind of announcement from you?”

“My wife just gave birth t’twin girls, your majesty. We were only planning on the one though, so if you wanted one t’bring up as your own, you’re more’n welcome.”

“I’m not saying I disagree with your choice not to marry a woman, King Anthony, but my grand daughter is of age and she would give you an heir!”

Tony would laugh and politely decline or change the subject while Stephen seethed beside him. 

If he still had his Dragonfire, there was no doubt in his mind he would have burned the lot of them to nothing. 

“They’re just concerned for their future and we should be too.” Tony said, pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it to the floor as he readied himself for bed, “I won’t let it fall to someone who doesn’t care about its people.”

“I don’t see why it’s any of their concern!” Stephen snapped, unfastening one belt after the other and throwing them onto the chaise against their bedroom wall, “They have no right to question you.”

A pair of arms wrapped around his middle and a warmth, ancient and familiar, seeped into his back, making his anger die away almost instantly. 

“Someone’s jealous.” Tony murmured, his smile visible in his words and in the skin of Stephen’s back when he pulled his robes down. 

Stephen rested a hand over those looped around him before turning in the embrace to face his love. 

“Of course I am!” Stephen smiled, “I don’t want to share you with anyone else.”

“Oh, is that the only reason? I thought it might have been because, you know, I’m the King and your my...”

Tony faltered, his playful grin now pursed lips as he thought about how best to end that sentence. 

“Your Sorcerer?” Stephen supplied.   
“No, you’re more than just my Sorcerer.”  
“Your husband?”

Tony snapped his fingers, his eyes lighting up. 

That was never a good sign. 

“You’re my Queen!”

Stephen stared at him as if Tony were joking.   
When no laughter accompanied the remark, he realised Tony was being serious. 

“Your Queen?”  
“Yeah! King and Queen!”  
“I’d rather just stick with the title of husband.”  
“Oh come on, it suits you!”  
“Really? And why is that?”

Tony opened his mouth and Stephen knew exactly what he was about to say

“Don’t say it’s because I wear a dress.”

“You wound me, Stephen Stark! I would never! I was going to say it’s because the Queen is the most powerful piece in chess AND because you wear a dress!”

Tony quickly ducked away from him before Stephen could get a stronger hold on him, “And a necklace!”

Now on the opposite side of the room, he could see the portal hurtling his way and side stepped its reach, “And an old cloak to go over it all AHHH!”

Tony didn’t see the portal open beneath him and he fell through it onto the bed, Stephen quickly holding him down before he could make his get away. 

Tony was giggling up at him, quite proud of himself. 

Stephen leant down, slowly pressing his lips to Tony’s, who was more than happy to stop messing around as his arms were let go in favour of removing the brown pants he was still wearing. 

Tony’s hands rested around him, one sliding into his hair and brushing the grey strands back as he pushed up against Stephen, smiling at the groan he couldn’t suppress. 

Needless to say, they both slept rather well that night. 

~.~

The next few weeks were rather busy for the both of them; Stephen working on all the spells around the castle, Tony in endless meetings about resources and food supplies for the coming winter months. 

Stephen didn’t realise just how ingrossed in his task he would be until Tony came to fetch him and pull him into bed so they could get a few hours of sleep together before getting back to work.   
Most of the time they would be too tired to change, save for kicking off their shoes, and would fall asleep almost instantly upon hitting the mattress, wrapped in each other’s arms. 

Stephen hardly dreamed when he slept and if he did it was usually forgotten by the time he woke. 

But then one night, that changed. 

He was standing in darkness, large blocks of rubble all around him. 

He moved to one of them, lifting a hand to trace the deep scratch marks made by something very, very big. 

He turned, his eyes fixing on a pile of three large pieces. 

Why was his heart beating so fast in his chest?

He was moving towards it. 

But he didn’t want to. 

He didn’t want to see what was beneath it. 

He tried to pull away but his body wasn’t listening to him, forcing him to approach the pile. 

He didn’t want to look. 

He looked down. 

Red. 

Why was there so much red?

Why was that the only thing he could focus on?

Why was he being forced to stare at it?

What was...

Who was...

Stephen’s eyes snapped open, struggling to breathe while his heart raced in his chest and looked to Tony, visibly asleep in bright green light. 

Stephen looked down at the Eye of Agamotto, open against his chest. 

It had been closed when they had gone to sleep.   
How had it opened all by itself?

He quickly closed it before the light could wake Tony and lay awake listening to his love’s soft breathing. 

But then the next time he fell asleep the same thing happened. 

He was shown the exact same dream, except now it was just the image of the pile of rubble.   
He couldn’t move to lift it or look away from it, he couldn’t close his eyes or focus on anything else. 

By the time he finally managed to pull himself out of the dream’s grip on him, the image had been permanently burned into his mind. 

The third time, he made sure to take the relic off, but it was no use.   
His dreams were still haunted by the image shown to him, and it wasn’t going to let him forget about it. 

He decided that he should be using this time to recast the spells around the castle, but as he stared at the blank castle wall trying to recall the right spells for this section, his mind couldn’t let go of the thought that the brick pattern looked eerily similar to the chunks in his nightmares. 

When staring at the wall became too much for him, he decided he should start on the boundary spells from now on.   
He’d be able to focus more outside and would return to the castle spells in a few weeks or so. 

Deciding to do just that tomorrow, he went back to the room he shared with Tony to try and get some more sleep, only to find the bed empty. 

Stephen rubbed his forehead as he stepped through a portal to the armoury, “Tony, would you please come back to-“

He stopped speaking. 

Tony had a gauntlet from his armour on, holding his hand up before him, fingers splayed evenly with an expression like he expected something to happen. 

“Tony?”

Tony shook his head, looking down at his armoured palm. 

“What are you doing?”

“Focusing.” Tony replied, holding his hand up once more, “I can feel it, I just gotta make it-“

What Tony was doing suddenly hit Stephen and he rushed to stop him. 

“You’re trying to weaponise the one thing keeping you alive?! Are you insane?”

Tony pulled his arm out of his grip, “I’d use the word ‘genius’ but that’s just me.”

“Tony-“  
“I can’t get it out of my head.”

Stephen kept silent, waiting for Tony to tell him what was on his mind. 

“That thought. That one thought. What if he had killed you instead of me? I wouldn’t have known how to use my Dragonfire to bring you back. If something happens, I need to be prepared for it! Threat is imminent and I need to protect the one thing that I can’t live without. That’s you, Stephen.”

Stephen’s features softened, “We both know that you would not have given up easily. You did just call yourself a genius after all.”

“If I can just get it to form, then I can stop worrying about-“

Stephen kissed Tony’s words away. 

He didn’t want to think about what could have happened back then, and he most certainly didn’t want Tony to use his fire for anything other than staying alive. 

Tony didn’t seem to mind the distraction.   
Stephen licked a stripe up his neck, his beard tickling the sensitive skin as Tony gasped, removing the gauntlet and allowing it to fall to the ground as he found Stephen’s lips once again. 

He was pulled through a portal back to their room, Stephen pushing him down into their bed, the sheets cool against his hot skin as his flame ignited further within him, something it had started doing ever since he’d woken with Stephen’s Dragonfire burning in his chest. 

Tony sighed when they finally broke apart, another one stuttering out of him when Stephen ran his tongue down his abdomen and mouthed over his clothed errection, the sounds escaping from Tony’s lips and pleas for him to stop teasing him only fueling him. 

“As my King commands.” Stephen smiled, releasing Tony’s cock and swallowing him down, Tony’s hips rising off the bed and needing to be pushed back down with some effort. 

Stephen looked back up at him, only to see Tony had grabbed a pillow and was pressing it over his face. 

Concerned, Stephen stopped and pulled the pillow away. 

Tony’s face was red, his eyes closed and his lip split where he’d been biting it. 

“Did I hurt you?”

Tony shook his head. 

“Then why are you hiding your face from me?”

“I didn’t want you to see me making some embarrassing expression.” Tony mumbled, his cheeks flaring as he spoke. 

“But I like your ‘embarrassing expressions’. Especially when I’m the cause of them.” Stephen leant back down Tony’s body, pulling his pants off completely while running his tongue around his very ticklish belly button and getting a whack from the pillow. 

“It’s still embarrassing!”

Stephen didn’t answer, sinking his teeth into Tony’s thigh and leaving a raw mark when he pulled away. 

“You’ve never been this self conscious before.”  
“Well...it’s our birthday soon...and...”

Their birthday?

Stephen looked back up at Tony, who was looking dejectedly to the side and moved to him instantly, “If you think you are too old for me let me remind you I have two hundred years on you.”

Tony smiled, finally looking at him, and Stephen kissed him softly. 

“Even after all these years, you still manage to surprise and delight me, Tony Stark. That will never change.”

~.~

Stephen woke in the early morning when the sun was just beginning to rise, making the sky outside an array of pinks and bright orange. 

Tony was still in bed with him and still asleep, his warm breath hitting Stephen’s shoulder with every exhale. 

Stephen smiled, lifting his hand to run gently over Tony’s cheek. 

The feeling of his soft skin and neat beard against his hand soothed him and brought him comfort, but nothing more so than the bright blue skin where his old Dragonfire resided. 

His body was tuned to it, craved it most of the time, needing to feel it against him. 

He ran his hand down to rest upon his chest, stopping before he could touch the scar left by the dagger that had taken Tony from him. 

Tony had many scars and Stephen loved all of them. 

All of them except that one. 

“Tony?”

Tony hummed in reply, keeping his eyes closed. 

“We should get up now.”  
“I don’t know if I can, you were very enthusiastic last night.”

Stephen rolled his eyes, “Obviously not enough if you’re awake at this hour.”

“I might not be able to walk.”  
“Tony-“  
“You’ll have to carry me.”  
“Or I could just leave you here.”  
“That is no way to talk to your king, Stephen Stark!”  
“My king? No. My husband on the other hand...”

Stephen rolled himself over Tony and kissed him, running his hands down Tony’s legs until he felt them grabbed and stopped. 

“We shouldn’t.”

Stephen was confused. 

“Why not?”

As soon as the words left his lips, the bedroom door opened, a young man pushing a food trolley entering and busying himself with cleaning up their clothes. 

Stephen quickly rolled back to his side of the bed. 

He’d forgotten about Edwin Jarvis and his tendency to enter rooms without knocking. 

“Good Morning, sire.” Edwin bowed to them before bringing over two trays of food, “I took the liberty of preparing some of your favourite foods for you seeming how you are avoiding the dining room.”

The trays were placed in front of them and the covers lifted; Stephen’s heaped with bacon and eggs, Tony’s with toast and fruit. 

“A woman is waiting for you in the throne room, sire.” He said as he moved to the wardrobe and began pulling out clothes for Tony to wear, “She says it is quite important.”

“Did she say what about?” Tony asked, picking his way through his plate. 

“No, sire.”

“Very well. Thank you, Jarvis.”

Jarvis bowed to them once more before leaving, taking his trolley and Tony’s barely touched plate with him, and Tony stood up from the bed to get changed. 

“I thought you couldn’t walk?” Stephen grinned at him, watching Tony throw on the shirt that had been picked out for him. 

Tony pulled on his pants, “No, I think you were right. You obviously weren’t as enthusiastic as I once thought-“

A cushion sailed past his head and Tony quickly made a run for it before Stephen could get his sling ring on or grab any more innocent cushions.

By the time Stephen had gotten dressed and joined Tony in the throne room, the playful atmosphere had turned into a somber one. 

A woman stood before him and his King, almost in tears and trying to hold onto a small boy no older than two or three as he wiggled and squirmed in her arms, clearly unhappy.

“The ones who get bitten, we never see them again! I’ve already lost my husband and there are so many others please! Please help us King Anthony!”

Tony’s face was ashen as he stared down at the woman and child. 

“Bitten by what, exactly?” Stephen asked. 

The woman looked up at him, wiping her eyes, “Dragons!”

“Dragons?” Stephen echoed. 

“Yes! Small white Dragons with black spots on them. They’ve been hanging around the town and biting people! Look!”

She manged to snag the little boy’s hand to show them both a red puffy bite mark where something with two long fangs had sunk them into the skin. 

The boy made an uncomfortable sound and the woman let his hand go, bouncing him up and down to calm him, “Its ok, Peter, it’s alright.”

Stephen knew what sort of Dragons had just been described to him. 

A Spotted Youngling, or another term for them was Spiderling.   
They were quite venomous for their short size, growing no larger than a cat.   
The average adult human bitten would usually succumb to the poison in their system within a week, sometimes less. 

There was no hope for this boy.   
His body was too underdeveloped to survive no more than a couple of days. 

He looked to Tony, but he didn’t look back.   
He looked like he was going to be sick. 

“Which town is this taking place?” Stephen asked, turning back to the woman and missing the flinch from Tony at his words. 

“Which other town would I be talking about?” The woman glared at him, “The town of my kingdom! The town of Azule!”

Stephen’s skin matched that of his King. 

For twenty years they had been preparing for some form of attack from Azule, for Rogers to return and try something. 

But they hadn’t prepared for this. 

Tony stood up from the throne and excused himself, Stephen following him out to the rose garden, watching Tony pace. 

“Tony.”

Tony didn’t seem to hear him. 

He moved closer to him, grabbing his wrist and Tony ripped his arm out of his grip. 

“Don’t touch me!”

Stephen froze, watching the hand he’d grabbed sit over Tony’s heaving chest. 

Covering his flame.   
Covering the scar. 

Tony looked away from him, but Stephen saw the shame burning in those brown eyes. 

He approached him once more, resting his hands on Tony’s shoulders, feeling the tension there and trying to rub some of it away. 

Tony was quiet, still not looking at him, but he did relax a little. 

“We will be fine.” Stephen tried to reassure him, “Our army is strong and well equipped, our allies have guaranteed reinforcements should we need them and safety to our citizens.“

“The spells.”  
Tony looked up at him then. 

Stephen still had plenty to do on the border, and the castle felt like he’d barely scratched the surface with the amount it would require. 

“Progress is slow.” He admitted, “I went to my old master for aid but she and her students were absent.”

Tony leaned in closer to him and Stephen held him. 

And there, in the rose garden, they stayed until Tony was ready to go back inside and try to help the woman who had come to them for their help. 

Her request was a simple one. 

Take care of Peter, the small boy she had brought with her.


	2. Chapter 2

“The bitten civilians are being held inside the castle?” Stephen asked, rubbing his forehead as he tried to listen to Tony and read his book at the same time. 

It was early morning and the only one who was getting any sleep was Peter, who was using Tony’s chest as his pillow. 

Tony hadn’t let go of him all day. 

The boy hadn’t made a sound when he was handed over by the woman who had brought him with her.   
He didn’t even realise she had left him behind as he was much more interested in snuggling into Tony’s chest. 

“I think he likes me.”  
“You are very likeable.”   
“Do you think he’s had anything to eat?”  
“Hmm... he does seem undernourished for a boy his age.”

The staff in the kitchens were immediately ordered to bring a small feast of different foods to the dining hall, Stephen getting dragged out of the throne room behind Tony before he could make his escape. 

Once Tony had finally managed to detach the boy from himself and the food was laid down before them, Tony helped Peter eat while Stephen tried to feed Tony at the same time, paying no mind to his constant swatting hand. 

Peter wanted to help Tony eat too apparently, picking up a cookie from the platter before him and shoving it into Tony’s mouth.   
Stephen snorted with laughter at Tony’s shocked expression before recieving the same treatment from his King, Peter giggling as he held a cookie in each hand. 

After they had all eaten together as their little makeshift family, Stephen couldn’t help but notice how happier Tony was.   
Not only had he eaten properly for the first time in a long time, but everything about him, his eyes, his smile, seemed brighter. 

Just like they used to be before their duties had taken priority over everything else. 

To see him in such good spirits made his heart flutter like he was falling in love with him all over again. 

Tony’s voice asking him to take them to the library so he could find some of his old story books had pulled Stephen to his feet, creating a portal to their destination at his King’s request.   
But as soon as it appeared, Peter started making disapproving noises not only at said portal, but at Stephen as well. 

Sealing the portal back up again only seemed to make it worse, the boy latching onto Tony and batting Stephen away with his little arm when he got too close. 

It seemed the child had had some experiences with magic, and not good ones either judging by how fiercely he was protecting Tony from Stephen. 

Stephen decided to keep his distance as they walked to the library, big brown angry eyes watching his every move over Tony’s shoulder, their owner more than ready to whack him again if he dare try anything he didn’t agree with. 

Tony was enjoying himself with the knowledge their little guest liked him more than Stephen, their slow walk to the library turning into a run for his life when the comment “It’s obviously the dress.” made Stephen chase him the rest of the way and grab him when he reached the doors. 

He stumbled a little as Tony turned, managing to guide them somehow to the wall before they could fall over. 

Both were panting with Peter trapped between them, Stephen catching himself leaning in to steal a kiss, “If you weren’t holding a child, Tony-“

“You’d what, exactly?” Tony’s voice had taken a sultry tone, pressing himself further up into Stephen’s chest, clearly forgetting about squashing Peter. 

Stephen’s lips suddenly went dry, Tony leaning in a little more when he licked them. 

“I’d...I’d...” 

What was the question again?

“Dad!”

They broke apart, looking down at Peter, who then began to cry and demand his father over and over, becoming increasingly louder each time. 

Tony tried to calm him while Stephen rushed around the library in a mad panic hoping to find something to distract Peter with.   
An old picture book did the trick, Peter sniffing loudly when he took it from him, his grudge forgotten. 

Relieved at the quiet, they spent the remainder of their free day reading stories to Peter and trying to teach him more words to say, and they had succeeded to a degree. 

After all of their efforts Peter had learnt one new word.   
No.   
And that was thanks to Tony, whose reasoning had been that, as it was a two letter word, the next one he could teach him would be “To” and then he’d be half way to getting the child to say his name. 

Stephen had felt his brain go numb at Tony’s proud statement as Peter had happily cried “No, No, No!” over and over again. 

It had been a good day. 

Now they were sitting along one of the tables in the library, the lit torches in their brackets on the walls and sides of the bookcases around them casting a warm light, finally having time to discuss what they had learnt yesterday. 

But it just didn’t make sense.   
Why would those who were bitten get taken in the first place?  
What was the purpose of such an act? It wasn’t like they could infect other people.   
There had to be another reason, Stephen just wish he knew what it was. 

Tony had leaned back in his chair until it was supported by the two back legs and was rocking himself and Peter gently, “That’s right. Those who get taken are never seen again. It was pure luck she managed to get away with Peter like she did.”

Tony was giving him a look. 

Stephen instantly jumped to his feet, “No.”

“We have to help them Stephen!” Tony said a little too loudly, Peter stirring in his sleep and making him continue much more softly, “Peter’s D-A-D could be in there! We have to get him and any other civilians out and reunite him with Peter!”

“I will not go there and I will not sneak any of them out! Who knows what dangers we could bring down on our kingdom? If they find out we have Peter here-“

“We’ve been preparing for said dangers for twenty years!”

“Just the mere mention of Azule yesterday almost had you bring up your breakfast and now you want to invade Azule and get HIS attention?!”

Tony glared at him, resting his chair back down slowly, “If we don’t do something now, when we could be doing something, that’s on us. But if you refuse to do something, and more people are dragged from their families, that’s on you!” 

Stephen watched him storm out and he promptly shoved his book off the table. 

He didn’t need this on top of everything else they were trying to accomplish.   
He didn’t want to save anyone else when he couldn’t even save a small boy from the poison that was slowly eating away at him. 

Stephen sighed defeatdly, looking at the door Tony had left half open. 

He couldn’t tell Tony that though.   
Not now that he was finally back to his old self. 

~.~

Stephen had planned to continue his spells for the remainder of the day at the border, but instead went to his master’s school once more for her aid. 

He had hoped she could spare a few students to help him with his task and answer some questions about his nightmare and how best to tackle the anti venom he needed for Peter. 

If anyone knew how to make one, or if one was even possible, it was her. 

But again there was no one there and the letter he had left last time was still sitting on the desk unopened. 

She was always here.   
She had always been here with at least a hundred other students so where could everyone have gone?

His long search of the empty school yielded no clues either, the only difference between now and his first visit being the amount of dust which had accumulated. 

By the time he had written another letter detailing his requests both old and new and returned to the castle, night had fallen; the clear sky allowing the glowing moon to bathe the castle and most of the town in its light. 

Finding the lit window of the room they had made Peter’s was easy enough as it was the old room he and Tony used to share as children. 

Stephen smiled, wondering what story Tony was reading the small boy tonight. 

He worked through the night right to the following day and his eyes were struggling to stay open by the time night had fallen once more. 

He should really get some sleep in his tower so as not to wake Tony.   
He would have made a portal to check on him if he wasn’t such a light sleeper. 

Once he stepped into the tower however, he immediately spied the box he’d locked the Eye of Agamotto in to keep his dreams safe from its influence. 

And yet somehow, a green light was visibly spilling out from underneath the lid. 

He ignored it as he made his way to his old room, but stopped once again, looking at the wooden box as an idea came to him. 

What if he used it for Peter’s father, if only to see if reuniting the boy with him was a possibility?  
It was already open he may as well at least try. 

Stephen knew that Tony was secretly hoping they could somehow keep the boy with them and raise him.   
He also didn’t want the child to leave them, but Peter deserved to see his father before that poison stopped his little heart. 

And as much as he wanted to keep the little family they had together, he couldn’t keep Peter away from his real father, a father who meant so much to the him that he was one of the only words he knew. 

He’d look for Peter’s father and then get some sleep. 

Stephen opened the box and placed the relic around his neck, sitting down in his armchair and closing his eyes. 

But nothing came to him. 

That couldn’t be right. 

He tried to focus on the image of Peter in his mind. 

Still, nothing. 

That could only mean...

The looming image of that pile of rubble scratched at the back of his mind and he pushed it away, scrunching his eyes tighter. 

No!   
That was just a nightmare!   
The relic must be broken or something!  
Maybe Tony knew-

clink. 

What was that?

He opened his eyes to find himself in a dark bedroom that looked somewhat familiar. 

His body felt heavy and he was facing a large bed. 

clink, clink.

He looked down at himself, thick metal chains wrapped around his torso, arms, neck and legs keeping him tied to whatever sturdy object behind him making his surprise turn to dread. 

He’d fallen asleep.   
This had to be another nightmare conjured by the Eye he was wearing. 

A door opened, catching his attention and even more so when Tony walked into the room. 

Stephen tried to call out to him, but instead of words what reached his ears was a garbled mess of noises that sounded like he was trying to talk through a mouthful of water. 

Tony ignored him as he climbed into the bed on what would have been Stephen’s side. 

And someone already in the bed stirred. 

“Did I wake you?” Came Tony’s soft voice wrapped around a smile. 

Stephen struggled against the chains holding him, tried to move his hands so he could free himself with magic, but he abruptly stopped when he heard his name spoken. 

Fear crept up his spine, paralysing every cell in his body when he realised just who was in that bed with his husband. 

“Not at all.” Steve Rogers replied, kissing Tony. 

Stephen fought against the chains more fervently, only stopping when he was on the brink of blacking out from the one pressing into his windpipe. 

And then the moans began. 

He shut his eyes.   
Why was he being shown this?

“...Stephen...?”

Was that his Tony? He seemed so close and yet so far away. 

The squeaking of the mattress was barely audible over Tony’s shouts of pleasure. 

“...Stephen...!”

He wanted to reach out for his Tony, he wanted to wake up from this. 

He shut his eyes tighter and tried to block out the noises coming from the bed. 

“Steven!”  
“Stephen!”  
“Steven!”  
“Stephen!”  
“Ah...! Ahhh! Steven!”  
“Stephen Stark!”

Stephen’s eyes flew open. 

Tony was sitting in his lap, soft hands against his face and looking worriedly down at him.   
He was wearing one of the blue robes Stephen kept in their room, often slipping into the material when their sleeping schedules didn’t align and he missed him. 

“Tony?”

Tony smiled softly, “Hey there.”

“What are you doing?”  
“You’re the one who dragged me on top of you so I was hoping you could tell me.”

Stephen leant back into his armchair with a sigh, “I’m sorry.”

“Nightmare?”  
“Mmm...”  
“I told you not to fall asleep with that necklace on.”  
“Relic.”  
“What was it about?”

Stephen shook his head.   
No way in hell was he going to share what the Eye had just shown him. 

Tony wiggled a little and Stephen made a strained noise as Tony shifted around his more than interested cock.   
He was definitely a sight in that robe, especially with how it was too big for him and open at the chest, giving him the grand view of his old Dragonfire. 

“Not gonna tell me? I have ways of making you talk.”

Tony did it again and Stephen growled, his lips pressing to his love’s and grabbing the single tie of the robe, pulling it open and allowing it to fall down Tony’s back, the cloth only managing to stay on him from the sleeves now hanging halfway down his arms, “How am I supposed to form coherent sentences when you are being so incredibly distracting?”

The corner of Tony’s mouth lifted, leaning into Stephen’s lips now on his neck, “I’m only distracting?”

“In the best ways possible.” 

Tony gasped, a shiver running all over his body as Stephen’s lips slowly traveled up along his throat, “Who’s being the distracting one now?”

Stephen sunk his teeth into the skin, sucking a bruise that would be visible hours from now as his hips rocked up against Tony’s. 

“You’re still dressed.” Tony murmured breathlessly against his ear. 

“That’s easily remedied.” 

One hand removed the belts, allowing his own robes to fall open before moving on to his pants while his other moved around the small of Tony’s back to create a portal back to their room. 

Tony, however, stopped him, “No.”

“We should really-“  
“No. Here’s fine.”

Stephen would have argued if Tony hadn’t leant forward to slide his tongue into his mouth, his eyes closing and all thoughts ceasing. 

He felt Tony lift slightly, a hand around his cock helping to position him better and Stephen’s fingernails dug into the bunched up material of the robes Tony was wearing when he lowered himself down around him, sliding his arms around his shoulders for better support. 

Lust spiked through his veins at how easily he slid inside.   
Tony must have...  
He pressed his hips up further, groaning. 

Tony shuddered in his arms before lifting once more, clenching around the length inside him as he did so and making Stephen cry out, his arms tightening around him and squeezing the breath out of him on every drop of his hips. 

Stephen drove his cock up into him, tossing him a little higher each time, needing to remind himself this was real while his mind filled with the images Tony had pulled him from, becoming more and more vivid as Tony rested his head into his shoulder and breathed his name, the rhythm of every thrust becoming more erratic and desperate. 

“Stephen!” Tony panted, Stephen opening his eyes to fix on Tony’s beautiful bright brown ones when he finally pulled away from his shoulder, becoming lost in the beauty of Tony’s face and the pleasure etched in every skin pore at his release. 

He held Tony close, his warm blue skin pressing into Stephen’s chest as he himself could hold back no longer. 

Tony’s boneless body slumped against him and he was dimly aware of the sound of a portal being opened and those strong, gentle hands holding him close, laying them both down into the bed he had forsaken in search of his Queen. 

His eyes opened a little to gaze at Stephen, who smiled at him and leant over him to kiss him goodnight, when there was a knock at the door. 

Stephen was pushed off of Tony immediately and he flopped back down into the mattress, watching him pull his robes back on for added decency as he approached the door. 

Tony opened it but he didn’t see anyone.  
His gaze traveled down to the small boy looking up at him, his arms reaching up. 

“Peter? What’s wrong?” Tony asked gently, giving into the child’s request and picking him up.   
Peter instantly wrapped himself around him, his arms locking around his neck and his legs around his waist.   
Tony ran a hand down his back, “Did you have a bad dream?”

Stephen felt his heart warm at the sight. 

“You wanna sleep in our bed tonight?”  
Peter just made a small noise and held Tony tighter in response. 

Tony walked them over to the bed, Stephen shifting himself back to the other side to make room for them, Tony resting on his side so Peter was between them. 

Then he smiled up at Stephen. 

“Goodnight, Stephen.”   
“Goodnight, Tony.”

Stephen’s eyes fluttered open some hours later and once they adjusted to the sunlit room, a soft smile graced his features as he looked down at how the three of them were nestled. 

Peter’s back was pressed against his chest, his small body curled into Tony’s.   
Tony was still holding the boy, even in sleep, his face nuzzled into Peter’s soft curls.   
And Stephen’s arm was over the two of them, his fingers just brushing Tony’s back. 

He rubbed his thumb against the soft material of the robes, waking him almost immediately. 

“Everything alright?” Tony whispered. 

“Everything is fine, go back to sleep.”

Tony smiled up at him, his eyes bright. 

Stephen looked down at Peter before looking back at Tony, “I feel like there’s something between us.”

Tony chuckled softly, raising his head a little as Stephen leant in and kissed him. 

~.~

“It’s not working!” Tony complained from the other side of the locked library door.   
Stephen was inside with Peter, who was on the floor looking at another picture book. 

He thought for a moment before placing his hand on the door, “Then think of me. I’m inside the room so the portal should-“

He almost fell through the hole appearing in the door, Tony smiling widely at him from the other side of it. 

“Should have just told me that to begin with! Actually, you should have taught me how to make portals first, this seems a lot more easier than the other spells.” 

“I’ll move you on to something harder for the next lesson then.”

Tony grinned at him, “Harder? You mean it’s already-“

“Child, Tony!” Stephen quickly interrupted before Peter could learn any new words.

Tony slipped the sling ring off his finger and gave it back to Stephen with a wink as he moved past him, sitting on the floor beside the small boy. 

They were both taking on the role of teacher today it seemed. 

“Can you say ‘To’?” Tony asked

“Dad!” Peter cried happily, slapping his hand down on the page of his book. 

“To.”  
“Dad!”  
“No, Peter, ‘To.”  
“Dad!”

Well so much for that. 

“What about ‘Tony’? It’s only one letter more than ‘Dad.”

“Dad!”

Tony picked up the small child, holding him so they could make eye contact, “Tony.” He said slowly. 

Peter’s brown eyes so much like his own looked up at him, his small hands holding Tony’s face. 

“Dad.”

Tony blinked. 

No matter how much he enjoyed having the kid here with him and Stephen, no matter how much he already loved him like he would his own son, the boy already had a father. 

And that wasn’t him. 

Tony’s heart sank and he let Peter go, watching him go back to his book. 

“Stephen?”  
“Yes?”  
“Have you located Peter’s father yet?”

No, I haven’t, because the Eye of Agamotto isn’t showing me anything but nightmares I can’t help but feel are about your future and I’m currently having an existential crisis over it!

Too much. Definitely too much. 

“Stephen?”  
“No...I haven’t looked.”

Tony looked away from him and nodded, “Can you make sure you do?”

Stephen looked down at the relic he had started wearing again, his stomach flip flopping as he gave his King his answer. 

“Of course.”

~.~

That night both of them went to Peter’s room to read him his bed time story, but when Tony pulled back the curtain surrounding the four poster bed, it was empty. 

“Peter?”

He was about to check under the bed when they heard the boy giggling and the sound of fabric moving. 

Instead of looking down, they looked up to find a Peter-shaped lump in the patterned fabric of the canopy. 

Tony grabbed at him, making Peter squeal into a fit of giggles as he tickled the boy. 

The lump moved away from him to the edge of the bed against the wall, and then was gone. 

He hadn’t fallen off, they’d have heard it. 

Stephen backed up from the bed, staring at Peter, who was sticking to the ceiling by the tips of his fingers. 

Peter seemed intent on his escape as he crawled around with Tony running around under him with his arms outstretched to catch him in case he fell and yelling at Stephen to do something. 

Stephen’s mind was reeling from what he was witnessing. 

He had never heard of those who had been bitten by a Spotted Youngling displaying abilities of the little flightless Dragon. 

The poison must have mutated somehow. 

Did this mean that Peter wasn’t going to-

There was a cry from Tony as Peter hung above him by one hand, the small boy struggling to stick back to the smooth surface when his other hand became unstuck and he fell into Tony’s waiting arms. 

The fall seemed to have shocked him, his big eyes welling with tears as Tony held him and rocked him gently until he calmed down. 

“You’re alright Petey. You’re alright.” Tony said gently. 

“Dad...” Peter hiccuped, rubbing his eyes. 

Tony sighed as he lay Peter down into the bed and pulled the covers over him. 

“We’ll find him, Peter. I promise. And I always keep my promises don’t I?”

Peter nodded and Tony turned to Stephen, holding his hand out as if he expected something. 

Stephen just looked at him blankly. 

“You don’t have the book?”  
“I thought you were grabbing it.”  
“You weren’t this forgetful when we were kids, Stephen Stark.”  
“My memory is impeccable.”  
“Getting forgetful in your old age then?”

“Two hundred years, Tony, remember? That is not old for a Dragon. Where is it? I’ll go...” Stephen had just created a portal to the library when he noticed Peter staring at him and quickly closed it again. 

But the portal’s disappearance had no effect on him. 

Tony turned to look at the boy also. 

“What’s the matter Petey?”

“D...Drrr...”

Peter went quiet as Tony and Stephen held their breath. 

“DRAD!” 

Peter looked quite proud of himself. 

“Drad’?” Stephen asked Tony.   
“I didn’t teach him that, don’t look at me!”   
“He must be trying to say ‘Dragon”

They looked back at the boy who was cuddling the old toy monkey he had been given to sleep with. 

“Maybe he wants a story about Dragons?”

“He’s much too young to know what a Dragon is, most likely he’s just heard the word so many times he’s trying to repeat it.”

“Maybe he wants OUR story about Dragons.”  
“That’s even less likely.”

Tony ignored him, “The greatest love story ever told between a Dragon and a handsome prince! What do you say, Petey?”

“Tony, please.”

Tony shot him a smile, “What? It’s true.”

Stephen couldn’t help a smile of his own, “I don’t think our tale is one for children.”

Peter was clueless as to what they were talking about, waiting patiently for his story. 

“Of course it is!”

“Then by all means.” Stephen grinned, sitting on the bed beside Peter, ready to stop Tony from getting too ahead of himself. 

Of all the things he’d been expecting, he hadn’t expected Tony to tell the exact story they had grown up with from King Howard, almost line for line. 

Peter was quiet, eyes wide with his mouth open a little as he listened and Stephen couldn’t help but think Tony told it better than Howard ever had. 

When the story was over, Peter clapped his hands and Stephen joined in too, Tony’s cheeks blushing bright red while the most radiant of smiles lit up his face. 

Peter allowed Stephen to ruffle his hair when he got off the bed and Tony moved forward to say goodnight to the boy, Stephen standing at his side with his arm around his waist. 

“I think he’s warming up to you. He seems to like your magic tricks now. Guess it wasn’t the dress after all.”

“I didn’t hear a word of complaint last night when you were wearing one.”  
“That’s because it looks good on me.”  
“No arguments there.”

They stepped out of the room, closing the door softly behind them. 

“I have work to do.” They both said at the same time. 

“Suit?” Stephen asked, receiving a nod from Tony.   
“Spells?”  
Stephen nodded back, “Just make sure you try to get some sleep tonight.”

“Only if you’re there when I wake up.”

Stephen pulled him into his arms, “I promise.”

“I’ll see you in the morning then.” Tony murmured, leaning in and kissing him, “Goodnight, Stephen.”

Stephen forced himself to let go. 

“Goodnight, Tony.” 

~.~

It was late when Tony decided to finish up his work and head to bed. 

Working kept the thoughts away, kept him sane for the most part and allowed him to sleep, if even for a little while. 

He had just opened the door when he was grabbed by the front of his shirt and thrown into an old suit of armour in the hallway, both he and the suit crashing to the floor. 

Tony groaned as he rolled onto his side, pushing himself up amongst the sword, shield and scattered pieces of the ancient armour which had probably existed well before the castle was even built. 

“He’s wanted alive.” said an unknown voice from behind him.   
“Doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun with him first.” said another, the clink of armour growing louder the closer the man came. 

Tony quickly grabbed the old short sword by the handle and the helmet by its once vibrant purple plume as he was hauled backwards by his hair. 

He whipped around and smashed the helmet right into that of the knight that had hold of him, sending him recoiling from the attack as his helmet flew off his head. 

The other three knights drew their weapons to attack, Tony’s eyes flicking from one assailant to the next, the Azule coat of arms emblazed on their chest glowing in the burning torchlight. 

The four knights all attacked at once, Tony dodging two of the attacks as he slamed the sword of the third attacker into the wall with his leg, kicking it out of reach when it fell to the floor and throwing the helmet still in his hand at the first knight, hitting him in his unarmoured head and knocking him out cold. 

With one arm around the disarmed knight’s neck, Tony used him as a shield to take a hit from the only knight wearing a blue captain’s cape and kicking him away before plunging the short sword down into the gap between the armour and helmet. 

The knight choked for a little while as blood sprayed out of him before he was shoved aside by his commanding officer. 

Another sword swing was dodged as Tony leapt back toward the scattered pieces of armour, the blade just scratching through Tony’s shirt sleeve.   
He quickly picked up the kite shield and used its sharp edge to wind the captain in the stomach before he could attack him again, slipping a chain glove over his hand as the last knight’s blade came down on him, grabbing it before it could impact and tugging it out of his hands only to ram the shield up into his jaw, stunning him. 

He flipped the sword so he could hold it by the handle and drove it into its owner, holding the shield above his head while the captain beat his weapon against it.   
By this point it was almost too easy to knock his weapon out of his hands with a quick parry from his shield, toss him over his shoulder and dislocate his arm, rendering his weapon useless to him. 

Tony was panting, taking little notice of the splatters of blood all over his once clean shirt and more concerned with why the Azule knights were here. 

And who they were after. 

Snagging a sword from the floor in case he needed it, he ran to Peter’s room, hoping he was safe. 

Hoping Stephen was close by. 

~.~

Tony burst into his old room, his heart racing when he saw it was empty. 

“Peter? Peter!” He called desperately, dropping his sword and shield to the ground as he tore the bed spread off and searched the canopy. 

“Dad?”

Tony got on his hands and knees and peered under the bed.   
Peter was there, covering his ears. 

Tony reached for him but withdrew his hand when Peter didn’t reach back. 

It was probably because of the blood splatter all over him.   
He quickly pulled the long sleeved brown and gold shirt off, wiping his face and hands in it before throwing it away as he reached for Peter again. 

Peter didn’t seem to mind him in his cream under shirt and took his hand. 

“Okay, Petey.” Tony whispered, pulling Peter against him and getting to his feet, “Let’s get going. We have to leave now.”

Peter clung to him tightly as Tony checked that the coast was clear before running down the hall, the small child making a little noise of complaint when he was bounced around too much. 

Where the hell was Stephen?  
Was he fighting? Was he safe? Was he looking for them too?

Echoes of clashing swords seemed to be all around him and he held Peter closer as they went down the stairs that would finally lead them away from danger. 

They would meet up with Stephen later.   
Right now Tony’s only concern was getting Peter to safety. 

But Tony’s legs locked when he rounded the corner. 

The doors were being blocked by a group of bound castle servants, each with an Azulean knight behind them.   
To the side was Stephen, bound with a glowing rope of magic, his arms pinned to his sides and a familiar thick metal collar around his neck. 

It was then a man walked into the scene, smiling as he looked Tony up and down, “Hello, Tony. You’re looking as desirable as ever.”

It was Steve Rogers. 

Images of blood splattered walls and slain defenceless servants ran through Tony’s mind as he took in the sight before him. 

He wouldn’t let it happen again. 

“Don’t hurt them.”

“Hmm?” Rogers looked behind him at the servants before laughing, “Oh them? Don’t worry they’re only a precaution so I get what I came for. We wouldn’t want a recurrence of what happened last time I was here, would we?”

“And what is it you want?”

Rogers held out his hand, “You. And the boy.”

Peter moaned, turning his face into Tony’s chest to hide as Tony’s hand came up to rest on the back of the boy’s head, “You can’t have him.”

The action hadn’t gone unnoticed by Rogers, who smiled at Tony trying to play the role of a father, “Oh? Why ever not?”

“Because I...I’m taking care of him. He’s under my protection.”

Steve let out a dark chuckle, holding up his right hand, “I think you misunderstand me, Tony...I wasn’t asking.”

Tony was thrown forward as the purple jewels set into a silver band on Steve’s finger lit up, a crushing pain in his chest like the air was being squeezed right of his lungs taking hold the moment they did. 

His breathing became short raspy gasps of air getting trapped in his throat. 

“Dad?” He heard Peter ask, Stephen calling to him as well and trying to get to him as the man behind him pulled on the golden rope, forcing him back to his knees as another rope materialised around his mouth. 

Tony tore at his shirt, managing to look down at his flame which was barley visible at all, his lungs screaming. 

Stephen’s struggles managed to drag the Sorcerer and two knights with him before he was subdued again when three more joined in holding him down. 

“You can make this stop, you know. All you have to do is agree to come with me...if not...”

Tony let out a strangled yell as the pain became tenfold, his legs giving way and dragging Peter down with him to the cold hard floor. 

All sounds became muffled except his own heartbeat pounding in his ears.   
His vision was blurred, dark spots beginning to obscure more and more of it. 

He needed to tell Peter to hide, but he couldn’t feel him. 

He couldn’t speak.   
He couldn’t breathe. 

And then his mind went black. 

“Dad? Dad!” Peter called over and over, pushing Tony’s shoulder in the hopes of getting a response. 

“Get the boy.” Rogers ordered, an Azule knight stepping out from behind Jarvis and walking towards them. 

Peter was picked up, kicking and screaming “NO! NO!” while he reached out for the unconscious Tony. 

Rogers moved his hand once in a circular motion, a portal swirling into existence, the knight taking the struggling, crying boy through it.   
Then he stepped forward and rolled Tony onto his back before scooping him up easily, Tony’s head resting against his chest. 

He turned to the still open portal, looking over his shoulder at Stephen as he did so. 

“Goodbye, Dragon.” He smirked, giving a nod to the Sorcerer behind him before taking the final step through the portal as it closed behind him. 

Stephen was hauled to his feet and pushed away from the rest of the servants, watching another portal swirl open before him. 

This portal was different from the one Peter and Tony had been carried through, however. 

The halo around it, which was usually orange, was purple and on the other side of it he could make out what looked like green and purple smoke. 

He didn't want to go through the mysterious gateway, he needed to get to Tony and Peter.   
His feet dragged as he tried to stop being pushed toward it, but the Sorcerer didn't care about what he wanted. 

The rope around his mouth vanished when he was at the very edge of the purple sparks. 

“Mordo! Mordo, don’t!” He yelled desperately. 

His plea went unheard as he was shoved through, the ropes disappearing from his body. 

Stephen managed to spin around to see the portal closing with Mordo, the man who he had once called his friend, smiling at him before he fell through the strange mist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty! I finally got this chapter done! And I’ve already started on the next chapter too, which will probably be a bit shorter than this one. 
> 
> I hope you guys are ready.


	3. Chapter 3

Steven remembered when he’d first heard the news of Tony’s marriage to the Crystal Dragon shortly after his return to his own kingdom. 

He’d thought it to be a cruel joke, or a vindictive rumour, and he knew better than to believe such lies. 

He had saved Tony from that very fate with the manipulative creature.   
He had been the one to kill him after all, he knew there was no possibility to any truth in what he was hearing. 

But his self assurance that the whispers were all just lies waned the more he heard them. 

That gnawing thought at the back of his mind steadily growing and consuming all others until it was all he could think of.   
What if they were true?

Thinking to investigate, he sent his best and most trusted spies to learn the truth once and for all and put his mind at ease. 

And a week later, the truth he had learned when they returned with their report was not what he wanted to hear. 

Tony was indeed alive and he was indeed married to that disgusting creature.   
And, to top it all off, he now had that Dragon’s fire burning in his chest. 

Everything Steven had accomplished had become undone by that stupid beast. 

Steven looked down at Tony resting on the bed they would be sharing from now on, sitting by his side and feeling the steady movement of Tony’s breathing through his hip. 

He had a second chance now.   
It had taken twenty long years of searching and training and planning but he finally had it. 

And in his haste to show off to his betrothed he had almost wasted it. 

He hadn’t meant to use such an extreme force when he’d used the powerful relic on Tony.   
But he should have known to use less presssure than what it would take on an actual Dragon.

He’d have to be more careful when he used the ring’s power from now on. 

It was then Mordo, the one who had given him the relic, walked through the door.   
Steven was up off the bed and stalking over to him, grabbing him by his green robes and slamming him back into the door, demanding to know why Tony wasn’t waking up. 

“He is just unconscious. He will be fine when he wakes.”

“I didn’t want him unconscious. If I did, I’d have said.” Steven’s voice was dangerously low, “He was to follow me of his own accord! That was the plan! To make him decide to come with me.”

“He now knows the strength you hold over him and he won’t try-“

“If you ever presume to meddle in my affairs again I will, without question, finish what we started all those years ago do I make myself clear?”

Mordo kept calm despite the threat, “I understand you are mad-“

“Mad?” Steven scoffed with a shake of his head, “My enemies have fallen into my trap perfectly...”

“Mad, your grace, for ignoring this: You are a King. You are more wealthy than any of the other kingdoms. You have this man whom you love and a child who loves him also! Take them and live your life! Stop this plan of vengeance and take what you have already won!”

“I can’t!”  
“Why not?”

Steven looked away from him.   
He wanted to.   
He wanted so desperately to keep Tony and the child who had obviously imprinted on him and live as a family. 

But he also wanted to make Tony regret betraying him.   
Taking his kingdom and pets had just been the beginning.   
He’d take everything from him and once he had nothing left to give, he’d take his life. Again.   
And there would be no Dragon to save him when that time came. 

“I can’t change my plans now they’ve been set into motion.”

The look Mordo was giving him told him he knew the King had had no real conviction behind the statement. 

“I thought killing him came at the end of the plan.”  
“It does!”  
“Then you still have some time to change it! Convince him to stay with you and start anew. You don’t have to forgive, just forget.”

Steven pushed Mordo away from him, walking back over to Tony, “You talk of forgetting vengeance when you yourself have not forgotten the Dragon who took all you had from you.”

Mordo bowed to him, opening the door before stopping and replying, “There is no future for me, I have already come to terms with that, but you have a chance. Why not take it?”

The door closed but Steven didn’t take any notice, all his attention on Tony’s peaceful face as he breathed softly. 

He had been planning this for so long, waiting year after year until he was sure he had everything perfect for his revenge. 

But now, seeing Tony once more, having him here finally after so long...

Could he go ahead with it?  
He’d planned to make him suffer as he had, break everything within him slowly until there was nothing left but..maybe...

Maybe he could be convinced to stay with him?  
He’d scrapped that idea long ago, knowing what had happened last time he’d tried to make Tony his.   
But...maybe he shouldn’t have given up on that idea so easily...

Tony fidgeted in his sleep, one hand flopping palm up beside his head as the other rested at an odd angle. 

That couldn’t be comfortable. 

He took Tony’s hand in his own, watching for any sign of wakefulness as he lifted it and placed it up beside his head with the other one. 

Gods, he was beautiful.   
Twenty years had come and gone and the only thing that had changed about him was the thin eccentric beard he now had. 

He ran his hands down the soft skin of Tony’s wrists, tracing veins with the tips of his calloused fingers. 

Tony didn’t wake, or pull away or tell him to stop, he simply kept sleeping. 

With Tony here like this he could do whatever he wanted. 

And he wanted so badly. 

The years since learning Tony was alive had been mostly lonely ones, but every cell that made up his very being remembered that stormy night and every minuscule detail of the body that had been beneath him.

The very thought of that one night and the countless ways it could have continued had brought him more pleasure on those nights than the dozens of other bodies he had tried to lose himself in. 

“I’ll take care of you from now on, Tony.” His voice was low and soft as he crawled over Tony’s body, pushing into a space between his legs which opened easily for him.   
The under shirt Tony was wearing opened slightly, bright blue light illuminating the room further.   
He reached for the buttons, “You don’t have to worry about anything anymore. Your kingdom, your people, they’re mine now. You can just leave everything to me.” 

The top three buttons slid easily out of their holes and Steven was left to gaze down at the beautiful light within Tony’s beautiful chest.   
He ran his hand over the warm skin, barely touching the jaggered scar before Tony let out a soft moan, stopping him. 

He quickly grabbed Tony’s wrists as he tried to turn over in his sleep, unknowingly rubbing against the hard ache that was pressed between his thighs and making Steven bite his lip to prevent himself from making any loud noises and waking his sleeping beauty. 

Once Tony gave up on trying to shift to a better angle, Steven let his grip ease a little. 

He could remove the rest of their clothing.   
He wanted to.   
If he did, he could finally have Tony completely. 

But that was the old him. 

He’d changed. 

He wanted to kiss him and have Tony kiss him back.   
He wanted to mark every inch of his skin as his while Tony cried out his name.   
He wanted Tony to look at him the same way he looked at the Dragon he had married. 

He wanted Tony’s heart, to be the only one to own it, more than he wanted it to stop beating. 

Steven ran his hand over the blue skin once more, careful to avoid the scar, his mind quickly beginning to rework the plan he had been preparing all these years. 

He wouldn’t kill Tony like he had initially planned, but would convince him to stay with him. The child could be used to persuade him further seeming how Tony had been rather attached to it and it wasn’t part of his plan at all. 

This would work.   
He would make it work.   
He would make Tony Stark his.   
And if in the end it didn’t work out, he’d go back to the original plan. 

But Steven knew that wouldn’t happen.   
He could control Tony’s fire, Tony’s heart.   
And now, Tony knew it too. 

~.~

Stephen’s hands twitched as he came to, pushing himself up to his feet, his head throbbing. 

Everywhere he looked was completely covered by the swirling multi coloured mist that surrounded him. 

Tony.   
He had to find a way back to Tony. 

And he’d like to get this horrid collar off too. 

He pressed his fingers to the thick metal, finding the hinges that kept it locked, and pulled. 

The magic he’d been relying on to remove it did nothing, and the collar remained attached to him. 

He tried a different spell but the outcome was the same. 

He couldn’t use magic here, not without a tie to his own dimension like Mordo had done.   
He could wait for another portal to open but without knowing when one was going to open, he would be at Mordo’s mercy. 

He had read about other dimensions like this in his time away from Tony; they were usually tied to a person’s life or a structure and were created through the use of some powerful dark magic.

What Rogers had done to Tony had also been dark magic, no doubt about it.   
He’d never heard of a relic being able to control a Dragon’s fire though.   
Had he found it?  
Had it made?  
And to what extent was he going to use it on Tony?

His thoughts were interrupted by movement behind him. 

He slowly turned to see a huge green and yellow Dragon, staring at him with one bright glowing green eye, and a collar similar to his own around its neck. 

He felt no fear at the sight of it as it towered over him. 

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” 

The Dragon looked away from him to hide its missing eye. 

“Master Agamotto.”

She didn’t respond. 

Stephen stared at her, his questions faltering half way to his lips when a series of purple sparks caught his attention, watching as a portal opened and Rogers stood with a smug smirk on his face, Mordo at his side. 

Stephen forgot all about Agamotto at the sight of him, “You...”

Rogers’ smile deepened, holding up his hand to show off the sling ring on one finger and the relic beside it, “Do you like this little corner all to yourselves?”

Stephen advanced on him, “Where is Tony? And Peter? What have you done to the-“

The metal collar tightened around his neck, pulling him back harshly and throwing him on his ass, coloured smoke wafting around him. 

Stephen was half way to getting up and tearing Rogers a new one, when he froze. 

Chains.   
He was wrapped in thick, heavy chains, just like in his second nightmare, and they were linked to the collar which now had a glowing orange scrawl scratched into it. 

The rest of that nightmarish imagery came flooding back to him and he leapt to his feet, “Don’t you touch him! Don’t you dare touch him! Or I swear-“

“That what?” Rogers demanded, taking a step forward, knowing he was well out of his reach, “You’ll kill me? How do you expect to do that when you can’t even escape this dimension? Or use your precious magic?”

He took another step, his blue eyes fixed on the ones that were much more intense than his own, “Tony belongs to me now. Always has, always will. We would have been happy if you hadn’t turned him against me. But now he is with me, just as he was always intended to be...And he will have no choice but to fall in love with me.”

Stephen grit his teeth, “You call locking him away in a place he has no desire to be in, with a man he has no desire to engage with, love? You think he will forgive you for what you did all those years ago? All those lives you took? Your ‘love’ is more warped-“

“I’ve changed these past couple of decades. I’ve had time to reflect on my actions, time to plan this elaborate scheme and to learn a thing or two from your old friend here.”

Stephen’s gaze flicked momentarily to Mordo before returning to Rogers.   
He would deal with him too for daring to teach this lunatic how to hurt Tony like that. 

Steve then turned to Mordo, who jumped at once to obey his command, orange symbols rotating on his hands as he controlled some of the mist to clear away, revealing a window back to reality. 

Stephen stared at it as Tony came into focus, sound asleep, his unease growing at the vision before him. 

“You’ll be able to see everything Tony does, everywhere he goes and hear everything he says, and you will only be able to do so until he chooses me over you.   
Which means you’ll get to hear our wedding vows and even see our wedding night.”

Stephen’s hands curled into fists. 

“And if he refuses?”

“He won’t.” Steve grinned, “Not unless he wants to watch his two pets eaten by your old master over there. She’s developed a taste for human lately, so she might enjoy a change in her diet.”

Stephen turned to his old master, who was refusing to look at him again. 

He didn’t even realise Rogers and Mordo had left until he felt the chains around him disappear, the sudden lack of their weight making Stephen feel too light.   
He sank to his knees, the strange mist that covered the floor lightly floating around him. 

“Please tell me you didn’t.”

She refused to answer. 

Oh god.   
Was that why he hadn’t been able to see Peter reuniting with his father?

Pushing the nausea from that thought down, he ran his hand over the collar once more, the scrawl he had seen moments before gone. 

He had to get that relic and the sling ring from Rogers somehow and get them all out of here.

But how?

He looked back to the window. 

How?!

~.~

Mordo walked into the room some hours later, surprised to see King Anthony was still unconscious, King Steven laying behind him with his arms wrapped around him. 

His King must have used much more force than he initially thought for King Anthony to still be in this state. 

Mordo walked forward, intending on waking him, when his hand was grabbed. 

“I can wake him if you wish.”

Steven gave him a scrutinising glare before letting his hand go, watching Mordo very carefully as he placed it on Tony’s forehead and whispered something under his breath. 

Tony stirred awake, his eyes adjusting to the room he found himself in.  
He was resting in a bed, tangled up in someone’s arms. 

Someone who was not Stephen. 

Tony flung himself out of the loose grip and fell out of the bed, scurrying backwards away from it. 

His chest was aching, his lungs felt like cobwebs and his mouth and throat were dry. 

And he was in a bedroom with Rogers and some other person he didn’t care about.   
It wasn’t his room, or any other room in his castle, so he must have been taken to Azule. 

But if he was here, then where was Stephen and Peter?

“Tony! You’re awake! Thank the gods, I was beginning to worry.”

Tony tried to form an answer but all that came out was a series of coughs and wheezing. 

Rogers hadn’t moved from the bed and Tony noticed he was staring at his Dragonfire. 

His buttons must have opened in his sleep. 

He hoped that they’d opened in his sleep. 

He quickly did them up again. 

“You don’t have to hide it from me.”

Tony just glared at him and Steven could swear he could see that fire burning in his eyes. 

He stood up from the bed, noticing how Tony’s eyes followed his every move. 

“Get him some food and water.” Rogers ordered the other man, who nodded immediately and left the room. 

Steve then turned to him, and Tony felt a shiver run down his spine. 

He didn’t want to be in a bedroom alone with him.   
He hadn’t forgotten what had happened the last time he had been. 

“It’s so good to see you again after all  
these years, Tony.”

Tony didn’t feel the same way. 

“You are more beautiful than when I first laid eyes on you.”

Tony sneered at him, but that didn’t seem to deter Rogers at all. 

“I know it’s been a while since the last time we were together, but I wanted to show you how much I’ve changed. I’m not the young man you once knew. I’ve become better, and I wanted to bring you here to prove it to you.”

Tony opened his mouth, the argument flying through his mind only coming out as a hoarse whisper which was quickly drowned out by Rogers speaking again. 

“Of course there will be some set rules while you live here. You have free reign of the castle but you mustn’t venture into the Dungeons, and you can’t leave the castle walls. And I would like for you to address me as Steven...or your Dragons might take the brunt of your punishment.”

Dragons?

Tony’s loathing expression slowly morphed into realisation.   
Steve didn’t only mean Stephen, but Peter as well. 

“And I want you to know that I forgive you for marrying the Dragon and letting it into your bed. Those must have been lonely nights when I couldn’t be beside you, I don’t blame you at all.”

Tony was shaking.   
From anger.   
From pain.   
From trying to hold himself back from lunging at this asshole and beating the shit out of him. 

“This is our second chance, Tony. Our second chance to be together. For you to fall in love with me.”

Tony doubled over whe he felt his fire twist inside him as it was forced to rise in a poor imitation of what it naturally did whenever he was with Stephen. 

He wanted it to stop.   
He’d do anything to make it stop.   
It was almost in his throat, burning its way up and Tony felt like he was going to vomit fire if it continued its progression.   
He tried to tell him to stop, but he couldn’t speak.   
Someone.   
Anyone he didn’t care who, just make him stop!

A portal suddenly opened beside him and for one fleeting moment, Tony thought Stephen was going to walk through it and save him from this hell he had found himself in.   
Instead, it was Steve’s Sorcerer, carrying a tray with a plate of food and a glass of water. 

Tony couldn’t hide his disappointment as the man approached him, but his appearance did make Steve release his hold on his flame. 

He was handed the glass filled to the brim and Tony drank it greedily, finally able to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth and kick his vocal cords into action, standing up from the floor as Rogers began speaking once more. 

“I know I’ve made mistakes in the past...”

Tony stared at him, “Mistakes?! You call killing Wong a mistake? Most of the servants I grew up with mistakes? ME, A MISTAKE?!”

Rogers stared at him, Tony’s outburst clearly not what he had been anticipating the first thing out of his mouth to be.   
“I let my anger get the best of me-“

“Oh, is that all?” Tony shook his head, “There is something seriously wrong with you if you think I could ever forgive you, or forget what happened.”

“Tony-“

“You think you can kidnap me and hold the ones I care about hostage until I change my feelings about you because ‘you’ve changed’? How naive do you think I am?!”

Tony couldn’t take much more of this.   
He needed space, he needed air, and stalked over to the glass doors which lead out to a small balcony. 

“I need to get out of here.”   
“ You can’t leave-“

“I’m just going to the balcony, Rogers, if I decide to throw myself off of it I’ll be sure to let you know!” Tony yelled, the glass door cracking as he slammed it shut behind him. 

He looked over the town he knew nothing of, filled with people he didn’t know, rubbing at his chest in an effort to relieve some of the pain his yelling had brought to his sensitive lungs. 

The balcony door opened and Tony could not believe Steve’s inability to just leave him alone when he requested him to. 

Steve wasted no time in letting Tony continue his argument when he turned to face him, pushing him backward into the balustrade, “I have changed! I’m not the same man I was twenty years ago!”

“Ohh yes, so much is different!   
Like how instead of killing me with a dagger, you’re...” Tony looked over the balustrade he was leaning backwards over, “about to kill me by throwing me off your bedroom balcony. You’re right. So much has changed.”

Rogers pushed him back a little further until Tony’s toes were just barely touching the tiled floor. 

Tony smirked up at him, “Careful now Steve, you won’t be getting a third chance to convince me you’ve changed if you kill me again.”

That seemed to get through to him and Steve pulled away, letting him go and walking back into his room. 

Tony breathed a sigh of relief, his back aching from leaning into the hard marble. 

He had to find Stephen and Peter and get them the hell out of here. 

Wherever they were being kept, Tony would find them.   
He rubbed at his sore chest.   
If Rogers didn’t accidentally kill him first. 

~.~

Steven was sitting on the bed, waiting for Tony to come back inside.   
Tony was as stubborn as always.   
It was nice to know some things don’t change. 

But he had.   
He had waited twenty years for this moment, he could wait a little longer. 

Mordo leant against the door, his arms folded as he waited for his King to say something.  
He thought about asking him how he planned to win King Anthony over, or maybe ask him if he needed guidance with gifts or conversation starters. 

Surely he didn’t plan to just use his control over the Dragonfire on him?

But King Steven didn’t say a word, only moving when the balcony door opened and Tony stepped into the room, his eyes darting from him to Mordo as if he didn’t know who would attack first. 

“Leave.”

Mordo bowed and exited the room at the command. 

Steve stood from the bed once more, indicating toward the food and refilled glass sitting on a meal trolley which hadn’t been there before. 

“I’m not hungry.”  
“You must be.”  
“Well, I’m not.”

Steve made his way around the bed, “You need to eat.”

“I don’t need to eat, I need to see Stephen.”

“You will see the Dragon when I deem-“  
“No I want to see him now, Rogers!”

The trolley with Tony’s food went flying past his arm as Steve thrust it out of his way, crashing into the wall behind him. 

“You will address me as Steven!”

Tony just glared at him, unintimidated. 

Steve rested his hands on hips and shook his head, “Stubborn as usual.” he said, more to himself. 

Tony ignored him, walking to the door and ending up in a run when Rogers followed him, managing to get it part way open before it was punched closed once more. 

“I thought we were past this.” Steve said tightly, advancing on the now trapped Tony, smiling when he started to back away from him, “If I could go back and change my actions, I would.”

“I doubt that.” Tony muttered, his back hitting the wall. 

Steve’s hands were on the wall on either side of him as he casually leant forward, “What can I do to change your mind?”

“Let me see Stephen and Peter!”  
“The Dragons are safe, you have my word.”  
“Because your word means so much to me right now. Why is it so difficult for you to understand that I. Want...”

Tony stopped speaking immediately. 

It was back. 

That tightening in his chest was back, making his flame feel like it was being compressed down into a hard molten rock inside him. 

“What do you want, Tony?”

Tony crashed to the floor, clutching at his chest, gasping in air that wasn’t reaching his lungs.

“...Air!” He managed out. 

Steve knelt down and ran his hand through Tony’s sweaty hair, “Hmmm, you don’t sound desperate enough. You best beg if you really want to convince me.”

Tony grit his teeth. 

“I said...” Steve stood up again, “BEG!” he yelled, slamming his foot into Tony’s stomach. 

Tony fell completely to the floor, scratching at his chest as his flame struggled to burn. 

“I’m not quite sure how long you’ll last, Tony.” He heard Steve say over the pounding in his ears, “And I won’t let up until you beg me to stop. This is the only way I can teach you it seems.”

“Nng...Please...” Tony finally managed out. 

The pain in his chest didn’t ease though. 

“Please...what?” Steve smiled. 

“Steven!.”

Sweet oxygen filled his lungs as his flame was finally let go.   
Tony coughed as he heaved in breath after shaky breath, slowly pulling himself up on his hands and knees. 

It was short lived however as he was pushed back against the wall by Steve kissing him hungrily. 

Tony felt weak as he just sat there, Steve’s hands on his wrists to prevent him from pushing him away while he kissed him, his only defiance not kissing him back. 

His fire suddenly flared within him and he jolted at the horrible feeling of that magic wrapping around it again, his cry going unheard as Steve shoved his tongue into his mouth.

His fire was being manipulated to stretch out instead of shrink within him and it felt so incredibly wrong.   
But he could still breathe and he would prefer this over what he had just experienced. 

He would prefer anything over what he had just experienced. 

Steve finally pulled away from him, resting a hand over the blue light in Tony’s heaving chest, “Expecting you to kiss me back was a little too much to ask for, but you will learn. You will learn many things during your stay here in Azule, Tony.”

Tony remained quiet, focussing on breathing as much air as he could before it was taken away from him again. 

Steve leaned into his neck, nipping at the skin before moving up to his ear. 

“One way or another,” he whispered, “You will learn.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh boy here we go


	4. Chapter 4

It was the early hours of the morning when Tony’s arm swung lazily to the empty side of the bed, searching for the one who would usually be there before reminding himself he wouldn’t find him. 

He rolled onto his back, his hand resting over his forehead as he glared up at the ceiling, brushing the white skin his wedding ring had left on his finger absentmindedly while he tried to formulate a plan with a higher success rate than the one he already had. 

What he needed was a map, the plans of this castle so he could traverse it without becoming lost, or at the very least commit the route to the Dungeons to memory.   
Not only because Rogers had told him to stay away from there, but   
he knew Stephen and Peter would be in the one place he’d been specifically told not to go. 

Now he was left with the problem of getting a map.   
He didn’t want to waste time searching through old scrolls. That could days, weeks even, and that was time Tony didn’t know Stephen and Peter had. 

And then he still had to figure out how he was going to get them all home again, all the while making sure Rogers didn’t suspect anything. 

Tony sighed as he rubbed his eyes, and then he stopped.   
An idea was forming.   
It was risky and it turned his stomach, but if it got him closer to getting out of here...  
He had to try it right?

He got out of bed, turning the idea over and over and only becoming distracted once he heard his name spoken by Rogers, who was outside the room. 

“Tony will need more than just an under shirt during his stay here. Make sure to follow the plans for the clothes I had drawn up, Tony will love it.”

The bedroom door opened and Rogers stood there with Mordo on his right and a man Tony didn’t know on his left, though judging from the conversation he’d overheard he was most likely a tailor. 

Rogers then turned to Mordo as he entered the room, “Once he’s done, show Tony to the library. He can read some books until I have finished my work.”

“Why would I want to read books? I have a library of my own you know.” Tony spat, unable to stop himself. 

Both Steve and Mordo halted their progression into the room, Tony quickly thinking of something to cover himself while his brain still had oxygen to think. 

“I’d much prefer to explore the castle if you gave me a map...or work on my armour if you had it brought here.”

Mordo looked to his King, watching the little tension in his slightly raised shoulders deflating. 

“Of course, you may go anywhere you wish.” Steven agreed with a smile, “Just remember where you are and are not to go. As for your armour...we shall see.”

Tony simply nodded, refusing to make eye contact as he came closer. 

“Mordo. Make sure he gets a map once he’s done here.”

Mordo bowed as a rolled scroll formed in his hand and was placed on the bedside table. 

Tony stared at it.   
That seemed a little too easy. 

“You’re going to give me one? Just like that?”  
“You are a guest here, Tony, nothing shall be kept from you.”

Tony scowled at Steve, who cleared his throat before adding, “Nothing of importance anyway.”

“You mean nothing of importance to you.”

Steve didn’t answer him.   
Instead he tried to pull him in to what Tony assumed was going to another revolting kiss.   
He quickly pushed him away, his heart racing in anticipation of the pain that was surely to follow, and although the stones on the ring glowed briefly, that was the extent of it. 

Tony’s legs shook as he was directed over to a large mirror and made to stand on the small stool which had been placed in front of it, trying to distract himself by wondering how he should begin his search while he watched Mordo and Rogers leave and the tailor begin taking his measurements. 

He didn’t want to go straight to the Dungeons, that would look too much like wilful disobedience. 

If he explored for a short time while making his way there then he could try to play ignorant if he was caught. 

He took a long breath to steady his heartbeat, which still hadn’t calmed down. 

He just hoped he found them before he was. 

~.~

Stephen woke with a start, a single emerald eye watching him closely. 

“Bad dream?”

Stephen didn’t answer.   
Even here his sleep was haunted by the relic. 

It had rattled his mind trying to figure out why the Eye was showing him these particular events as if it were teasing him with small pieces of information and holding back the complete story. 

That is until the dream he had just woken from. 

He wouldn’t let it happen.   
He’d break out of here, rip a hole back to reality with his own two hands if he had to. 

And once he was free, Rogers would know first hand what happens when you dare take a Dragon’s treasure.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re the Time Dragon. I would think you’d already know.” Stephen spoke without looking at her, fixed on the swirling colours before him instead. 

“You know that magic doesn’t work here.”  
“Then I’ll keep trying until it does.”  
“Resulting in nothing.”

“It’s better than doing nothing, which is all you have done!”   
He was up on his feet before he knew it, breaking out of the dimension long gone from his mind as he yelled at the ancient dragon before him.   
“You knew everything that was going to happen and you did nothing to warn me! Deciding to speak in cryptic puzzles about the fate of Tony’s life all those years ago when you knew I was having difficulty controlling my Dragonfire!”

“You would not have been able to save him if you were second guessing yourself.”

“Deciding to keep silent about Rogers and all of this that is happening to us right now instead of trying to prevent it and dragging us all into your mess!”

“Even if I had warned you, the outcome would have been the same. Nothing could have been done to prevent it.”

“SHUT. UP!”

Stephen could feel the collar burning into his neck, trying to pull out the Dragon that no longer existed, “You can try to justify your mistakes all you want but I won’t hear it. Not while Tony and Peter are out there while I’m trapped in here. You want to apologise, you can start by getting me out!”

Agamotto regarded him, still and silent. 

Stephen shook his head, turning away “Just what I expected from you. Nothing.”

“Stephen...”  
“Well I don’t need you. I’ll get out of here myself.”  
“It is not so simple.”  
“Nothing ever is with you.”

He heard Agamotto sigh, a quiver in her voice he had never heard from her before as she began to speak once again. 

“No matter how many times you look...no matter how many possibilities you see, there will always be a singular constant, one aspect that cannot be changed.   
I’ve spent so many years peering through time, looking at the moment that draws nearer and nearer. I’ve prevented countless terrible futures. And after each one, there’s always another. And they all lead here, but never further.   
Just like Wong and so many before him, all too eager to reap the knowledge of the unknown to come out with the most terrible wisdom of their own demise.”

She gave him a halfway smile, “But not you. After everything that has happened, or could have happened, you refrained from looking too far ahead.”

Stephen knew what she was hinting at but he wouldn’t give in to her elusive prying. 

It was because of Tony. 

The thought of looking into their future and seeing one without Tony beside him had stilled his curiosity more than once. 

But now he was living through a future he should have been able to prevent. 

The silence that had fallen around them was broken by Stephen as he snapped the cord of the old relic off his neck and held it out to her. 

Agamotto peered at him with her one good eye.   
“Are you sure you want to give this back to me? You won’t ever be able to use it again.”

“I’m sure.”

Agamotto bowed her head to him, the metal vibrating in his hand as the green jewel struggled to break free and return to where it belonged.   
The light from the eye became brighter and brighter, wisps of energy flowing out of it before there was a loud snap and the relic broke in half. 

Agamotto looked at him with two bright green eyes, her expression almost sad. 

He’d done the right thing. 

They turned from one another when they heard the familiar sound of a portal opening and Stephen felt those heavy chains materialise on his body once more. 

“So, what did you think of my performance last night? Quite the show, don’t you think?” Steve smiled, his arms raised slightly., “And to think I have you to thank for this opportunity.”

“What?” Stephen’s lips barely moved at all as the word growled out of him through his clenched teeth. 

“You truly are the most poor excuse for a Sorcerer if you need everything spelled out for you. The way Mordo talked of you, I assumed you had some brains.   
You forgot something very important, something that I now posses.”

Stephen’s mind was drawing a blank.   
What on earth was he talking about?  
Something he’d forgotten?

“Still having trouble? Very well. Mordo!”

Mordo stepped closer, his hands sweeping through the air. 

Golden threads of light began to appear before them, connecting to one another and Stephen’s stomach dropped. 

It was the web of Tony’s life; past, present and future.   
And glistening before him was one thick continuous line heading straight for a large bead where only two brighter strands emerged. 

Stephen looked at the thread, how half of it was dull and a smaller bead was shining with silver light. 

The event tied to this bead had already happened.   
And the only thing that it could have been was Rogers’ attack. 

“Finally figured it now have you?”

Agamotto’s words were ringing in his mind.   
‘Nothing could have been done to prevent it’

And this was the proof. 

“How did you...”

“Wong,” Mordo spoke, “was very thorough with his work. Using this spell was quite easy once the right book had been found.”

“Wong’s books? The books I refused to touch these past twenty years have been rifled through as if they were nothing?!”

“You have my thanks once again.” Rogers was saying, “Now that I have this I can do to you what was done to me. I can steer Tony’s future in the direction I want it to take.” Steve leant forward right into Stephen’s face, his voice low so only he could hear him “and you’ll just have to watch it all unfold. Watch as I make his mind and heart, and especially his body, mine.”

Stephen’s entire being felt like it was on the verge of combusting.

“Listen to me, you PARASITE-!”  
“Stephen?”

Rogers turned around, unblocking the portal from his view.   
Stephen’s eyes went wide when he saw Tony, who looked radiant in the purple light of the swirling portal. 

Tony stared at him, his eyes shining and his relieved smile slowly becoming wider and Stephen couldn’t stop a smile of his own at finally seeing him and being seen in return.

Each of them had forgotten about Rogers. 

Stephen watched Tony’s overjoyed expression suddenly became one of fear as Rogers stepped in front of him, closing the portal and placing the sling ring he had used into the breast pocket of his shirt. 

“Your smile just then was beautiful. Smile for me again.”  
“I don’t feel like smiling.”  
“You smiled for him.”

Tony clenched his jaw. 

“Oh, I see, does this help you?”

That cold magic pulled at his Dragonfire and Tony fell over backwards in an effort to get away from him.   
Quickly scrambling to his feet, he ran to the door that lead to the Dungeons, not even bothering to close it behind him. 

He tripped and stumbled on the sudden staircase before him, but managed to keep his balance as he hurried down deeper and deeper into the bowels of the castle. 

If Stephen was being kept wherever that portal lead to, that had to mean that Peter was down here.   
Locked in a cold cage by himself. 

Who did that to a child?

Tony stopped when he finally reached the bottom of the stairs, looking at all the empty cells around him before halting on the only occupied one. 

There he was.   
At the very end of the room.   
In a cell much too big for a boy his size. 

“Peter!” Tony cried out, the child turning at his voice and his big brown eyes lighting up. 

“Dad!” 

Tony hurried to the boy who was reaching out through the gaps of his cell door to him. 

He was just a couple of feet away from him. 

Just a few more steps. 

When he stepped right through the floor and fell into a room he hadn’t been in yet, occupied by Rogers. 

Tony got to his feet, his hands pulling behind his back all on their own.   
A quick check behind him told him his wrists were tied together with some magical golden rope and confirmed Mordo being in the room as well, holding onto the end of it. 

“I thought I told you the Dungeons were off limits?”

Tony rolled his eyes as he settled them on Rogers, “You told me that I had free reign of the castle.”

“And that the Dungeons were off limits.”

“I wouldn’t have found myself down there if you hadn’t decided to use your magic on me!”

Rogers moved around the desk he had been leaning on, his eyes locked on Tony, who stood his ground before him, “The Dungeons are for criminals and monsters, they are no place for royalty such as you.”

“They’re no place for a child who is neither of those things!”  
“He was bitten by a Dragon!”  
“That doesn’t make him one!”

“He has the powers of the Dragon that bit him! You weren’t going to tell me that though, were you?!” Steve roared. 

Neither of them had expected it to happen. 

Tony most of all as he picked himself up from the ground, kneeling before his captor as a bruise began forming on his cheek where Rogers had hit him. 

“You should be grateful I let them live at all. Dragons should be wiped out and that includes those who display their powers!”

Tony glared up at him, “So why am I up here instead of down there?”

Steven remained silent, his eyes fixed on the bruise.   
The purple gems in the ring he wore had cut into the skin and blood was slowly seeping through to the surface. 

“If you think a child who was bitten by a Dragon is a monster, what do you think of a man with a Dragon’s fire burning in his chest?”

“So help me Tony I will hit you again-“

“DO IT THEN!” Tony yelled, lunging forward to the end of his leash and making Rogers take a step back. 

There was a fire in those eyes he hadn’t seen for a long time.   
A fire he still wanted to possess.   
But it seemed much more intense than he remembered.   
So intense Tony’s eyes had taken on a slight blue tinge. 

“What? Hitting a man with both hands tied behind his back not as tempting the second time around?”

He watched the drop of blood slide down Tony’s cheek. 

“Or is this your way of convincing me ‘you’ve changed’? You plan to actually beat it into me?”

Steven towered over him, Tony only just realising he may have bitten off more than he could chew with this fight he was sorely outmatched for. 

“I had a horse like you once. Magnificent creature. Stubborn to a fault. It too just needed to be...broken.”

Steven grabbed Tony’s jaw and lifted him fully up to his knees, feeling it clench under his palm. He squeezed until it went slack once more, mostly due to the pressure he was putting on the still tender bruise. 

He brushed his bottom lip with his thumb, “This is a good look for you, Tony.”

Beginning to panic at what he was implying, Tony quickly jerked his head away. 

He expected pain to follow.   
He expected to be forced to do what Steve wanted. 

He didn’t expect laughter. 

“We still have a long way to go until you are completely mine. But you will be., Tony. And you’ll enjoy it too.”

Tony tried not to dry heave. 

He was roughly shoved towards Mordo, who quickly grabbed his arm when he fell back. 

“Get him cleaned up.”

Mordo nodded as his King left the room, allowing Tony to push out of his grasp with a quiet “Geroff.”

“I can fix that.” Mordo said, indicating to his own cheek. 

“Maybe you should consider that I don’t want it fixed.”  
“At least let me stop the bleeding.”

Tony’s bright brown eyes full of suspicion met Mordo’s dark. 

Mordo chuckled, “I promise to be gentle. Just let me know if I hurt you.”

The rope around his wrists loosened and vanished, which only hightened Tony’s suspicions about this Sorcerer’s motives. 

As a couple of different sized bottles appeared out of one portal over the desk and another dumped a small basin of warm water with a few clean cloths beside it, Tony couldn’t take his eyes off of the sling ring Mordo was using. 

The sling ring he knew to be Stephen’s. 

During his first ever lesson at trying to make a portal, Stephen’s hand had been enclosed over his own, guiding it through the air in the particular motion Tony would need to use to summon one.   
When Stephen had let go to allow Tony to try by himself, the ring had flown off his hand right into a wall, bending the metal slightly out of shape where it had struck. 

This ring had the same irregularity. 

That made two sling rings he had to try and steal: One to release each of the prisoners from their now known whereabouts.   
And to survive doing that he’d also need to get the ring that gave Rogers control over him. 

The only question remaining now was how the hell he was going to get them without their owners noticing. 

Rogers kept the one to Stephen on his person at all times and Mordo was constantly wearing his so he could create a portal at a moment’s notice.

The idea from earlier that morning came back to him. 

Mordo cleared his throat loudly, Tony coming back to reality when he saw the Sorcerer was inviting him to sit down in one of the chairs at the desk. 

He reluctantly did so and as Mordo sat opposite him and began his work, taking a breath to break their short silence only for Tony to beat him to it. 

“Don’t you have your own jewellery?”

Mordo’s confused expression would have been comical if Tony was in lighter spirits.   
“Your ring.”

“Ahh...Yes, well...I did...I lost it.”  
“Lost it?”  
“A long time ago.”  
“Really? About the same time you met Rogers?”  
“He won’t like it if he hears you calling him that.”  
“So that’s a yes then. And I’d wager on purpose too.”

Mordo pulled away slightly, “Why would I do that to my King?”

Tony’s fingers were twitching.   
Should he reach for the ring?  
If he didn’t take it now who knows when another chance like this would come?  
But if he took it now, he had no way of getting Stephen out without the other ring.   
Plus if he failed in getting it and making a portal, he’d only make it harder on himself if he tried a second time. 

He clenched his hand.   
“So that a certain someone couldn’t use it to do to other kingdoms what he did to mine. Am I right?” Tony tilted his head, “Or am I right?”

Mordo chuckled as he continued his work, “King Steven always talked at length of your wit. I’m glad I got to see it first hand.”

“Why are you even helping a man like him?” 

Mordo didn’t answer as he applied some clear liquid to the cloth in his hand and brought it up to Tony’s face once more. 

Tony pushed his hand away, “Answer me.”

“He saved my life.”  
“That doesn’t mean that he owns it.”  
“I gave it to him willingly.”  
“But why?”

Mordo leaned back a little in his chair, dropping the cloth into the basin beside him.

“When I was a small child, my family was killed in a Dragon attack. I swore I would kill the ones that got away and protect others from their destruction.   
I travelled aimlessly in search of a teacher who was only rumoured to exist, and eventually I found her.   
She took me in.  
She trained me.   
And then one night I overheard a conversation between her and a new student.   
I heard he was the very same breed that I had vowed to hunt down. My friend, Stephen Strange.”

Tony felt as if his insides had dropped to the floor.   
Stephen had told him about his time training and Tony had almost laughed himself silly when Stephen had told him how he’d gotten himself stuck with Strange as a last name, but it hadn’t clicked that this Mordo was the same as the one from Stephen’s past. 

Mordo had been described to him as a strong man with a pride at his skills that was unmatched by any other, often beating Stephen in all their training activities despite Stephen’s superior powers thanks to his Dragon blood.   
He was someone who used their powers to protect rather than harm and who wanted to travel and help those in need. 

So why was he here doing Steve’s bidding?

Tony stood from his seat, quickly turning to the door to leave before it got any more awkward. 

“How can you forgive Strange for all the deaths he has had a part in from his past, but cannot forgive King Steven for the exact same thing?”

Tony didn’t have an answer. 

~.~

Rogers had taken to ignoring Tony for the remainder of the day, which just made Tony on edge all the more as he walked through the almost deserted castle, stopping at small sounds and jumping at shadows as if Steve was going to materialise out of them. 

He hoped his actions hadn’t caused any repercussions on Stephen and Peter.   
If they had it was entirely his fault.   
Maybe if he apologised, he’d be the one hurt instead. 

He already knew his captor wasn’t shy about using magical or physical means on him. 

He could take it.   
He would, so they didn’t have to. 

Tony found himself outside the double doors of the library where Mordo had told him where Steve was, knocking gingerly on the hard wood. 

“Yes?” His voice called from inside. 

Tony opened the door, his heart hammering in his chest when Steven looked up at him from the papers he’d been reading. 

“Yes? What is it, Tony?”

Tony was shaking.   
If he said the wrong thing here, he could very much sign their death sentences.   
He’d probably ended up doing that anyway by being here when Steve clearly didn’t want to see him. 

Steven seemed to be losing interest in Tony’s panicking state of mind, returning to his work. 

“If you came here just to waste my time-“  
“I’m sorry!”

Steven looked up at Tony again, his eyes narrowing. 

Tony tried to calm himself down but he was highly tuned to every movement Steve was making, trying to anticipate his next move.

“I didn’t mean to disobey you. Please don’t hurt them, Steven. I’ll do anything-“

Tony quickly stopped himself but he’d said too much as he watched Steven’s eyes light up. 

“Anything’ hmm?” He smiled. 

Tony didn’t reply. 

“Anything to save your Dragons?”

Tony’s mind kindly supplied him with endless images of what exactly Steven might say to him,or might make him do in order to make sure he meant it, and Tony instantly began backing to the door. 

“I accept your apology. They won’t be harmed.”

That was it?  
No ‘On one condition’s or ‘Only if’s?

Tony was a little confused but mostly relieved. 

“Only because that’s the first time you’ve said my name. You addressed me how I asked you to.”

Steven went back to his papers, “This is the only time I will be lenient. Do not disobey me again.”

Tony nodded, stepping forward to test his luck with him now he was in a better mood than before. 

“In those Dungeons...”

Steven’s darkening scowl had Tony wishing he’d begun that sentence differently., “Is Peter’s father in there?” he finished quickly. 

“His father?”

“It’s just that, Peter kept asking for him...”

“I wasn’t under the impression he could ask for anything with his limited vocabulary.”

Tony felt his fingernails digging into his palms and he quickly relaxed them. 

Steven had noticed though if that smirk was anything to go by. 

“Planning on paying him a visit next?”

Tony bit the inside of his cheek before he could start another fight.   
That’s what Steven wanted and he wasn’t going to give in. 

“No, nothing like that, I was just wondering if you could let Peter see him. You are keeping all the people bitten here in the castle, aren’t you?”

Steven took a while to answer him. 

“I’ll think about it.”  
“He’s just a child. He should be with hi-“  
“I said, I’ll think about it.”

Tony fell silent as their discussion was brought to an abrupt end, but he didn’t move to leave. 

“Something else on that wonderful mind, Tony?”

“My armour.”

“You want it brought here, yes I know.” Steven leant forward in his seat, looking Tony up and down. 

Tony was starting to get a little hot under his gaze. 

“Why did you want it again?”

“I’ve been working on it myself. Gives me something to do when I’m bored or can’t sleep.”

Steven nodded after a pause, “It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Silence fell between them again and Tony was getting antsy as Steven just continued to watch him. 

Should he stay? Should he go? 

“Well...then...I’ll...”  
“Wait.”

Steven was on his feet, Tony’s skin crawling as he crowded into Tony’s space. 

“There is one thing I would like to ask of you now.”

Tony was unable to stop himself from flinching when Steven kissed him. 

His hands automatically came up to push him away, to fight back.   
But he didn’t want to give Steven an excuse to hurt the ones he loved, instead resting them on Steven’s chest, feeling something against his palm hidden in the breast pocket. 

He wouldn’t have enough time to get it on his finger if he tried to steal it now. 

Steven had gone from cold and distant to loving and open in the matter of a few minutes, and Tony didn’t know what to expect or how he would react if he tried anything that would upset him. 

“Kiss me.” Steven whispered against his lips, moving in to kiss him again. 

And Tony, for the first time since arriving in Azule, did as he was told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. 
> 
> Hope you guys look forward to the next!


	5. Chapter 5

Guilt. 

That’s all he was, all he could feel. 

Tony had resigned himself to the bedroom, almost numb with it from his actions. 

Giving in, or at least letting Steven think he’d given in, had been the plan.   
But the small part of him which had enjoyed kissing him hadn’t been part of it at all. 

It weighed on his mind as he lay in bed and watched the hours come and go, too tired to sleep. 

It wasn’t until Mordo came into the room at his usual time the next morning that Tony realised he hadn’t slept a wink all night, and that Steven hadn’t come to bed. 

Mordo had been surprised to find him already awake and even more so when he asked where King Steven was. 

So, he told him. 

Steven had left Azule early last night. 

And had spent it in Tony’s kingdom instead. 

Tony’s mind was instantly flooded with possibilities as to this sudden departure, dreading he’d done something wrong somehow and Steven had decided to take it out on his people instead.   
His horror must have shown on his face because Mordo straight away tried reasuring Tony that it was out of concern for him. 

“He’s worried about you because you haven’t been eating.”

Tony stared at him.   
Then his shoulders quaked, followed by an unamused cackle. 

Before Mordo knew what was happening, Tony had lunged at him, grabbing his robes and slamming him into the door, breaking it off one of its hinges. 

“Is this some kind of joke to you?”  
“No, your majesty.”  
“So you’re telling me he’s concerned when I don’t eat, but isn’t at all when I can’t breathe?”

Mordo wasn’t fighting him and Tony wanted to get angrier...but the material of Mordo’s robes underneath his fingertips felt so familiar. 

Too familiar. 

Tony pushed himself away from the Sorcerer and lay on the bed with his back to him. 

“Just get out.”

Mordo bowed his head, fixed the door so Steven wouldn’t know what had happened when he returned, and left Tony for the remainder of the day. 

He tried sending plates of food to him but Tony ignored them, sick to his stomach and trying to force himself to sleep so the day would pass quicker. 

He knew the longer he stayed here the more Steven would want from him, and while he could say no and have Steven make him say yes, Tony was afraid that he wouldn’t say no. 

And if that were to ever happen, Tony would be well and truly lost. 

~.~

Steven hadn’t only left to get an insight on Tony’s tastes and make sure his castle staff were towing the line, he’d also gone to bring some items back; namely Tony’s wedding ring. 

Somehow, in all of the commotion, it had come off Tony’s finger and vanished, much like the partner the Beast would have been wearing. 

He searched the bedroom, upturning the small box of wearable jewels and pulling the draws out of the night stands, revealing nothing. 

He asked the servants if it had been found and didn’t receive any answer, even when his questions became threats. 

No one had seen it and if they were hiding both of the rings, they were being rather tight lipped about it. 

He did receive answers however, when he mentioned the armour Tony had asked him for. 

He was lead to the room by the one calling himself Jarvis, and was astonished by what he saw. 

Red and gold plates of metal had been hammered into smaller pieces than what you would normally see on a typical set of full body armour. 

Although the design was rather basic, there were pieces and places on the armour that looked more thick than others. 

He ran his hand over the smooth red metal of the chest and halted at the clear blue Crystal Dragon scale in the middle of it, an odd detail that looked out of place. 

He tried to think as to why Tony would want this armour brought to him.   
If he was hoping for a weapon he was out of luck because there wasn’t one attached to it, and if he was hoping to work on it Steven didn’t know what else would need to be done as it looked complete. 

Nevertheless, he ordered his men to take it, thinking it might be used as some sort of bargaining tool should Tony start getting any ideas about disobeying him again. 

When he finally returned to Azule the hour was late, an echo of the eleventh toll from the town’s bell tower the only sound in its halls as he walked through them alone. 

And then he wasn’t alone. 

“How is he?”  
“Still not eating and now not sleeping.”  
“I’ll put a stop to this.”

“Might I suggest.” Mordo said rather quickly before Steven could storm off, “That you refrain from the use of that ring on him? It’s obviously having a negative affect.”

“All it does is help persuade him when he is being stubborn and I will use it as I see fit. You are dismissed.”

“And that is well within your right but he is growing more thin and pale and I can’t help but wonder-“

“You are dismissed, Mordo.”

“Yes.” Mordo bowed, rather stiffly, “Your highness.”

He watched his King walk away from him, hoping he would take his warning seriously.   
He’d seen the consequences if he didn’t. 

~.~

When Steven entered the room, a jug of highly potent wine in one hand and two short goblets in the other, Tony was out on the balcony; the doors with the still cracked glass wide open, allowing the warm night breeze into the room to rustle the curtains. 

He placed the goblets on the nightstand to fill them as Tony turned and came back inside the room. 

He could see the questions in his eyes before they were spoken. 

“The armour you wanted brought here...” Steven began before Tony could get a word in, “It is truly remarkable, but I fail to see what work needs to be done to it.”

“It requires constant maintenance.”

Steven nodded as he sipped his wine and offered the other one to Tony. 

Tony didn’t move to take it. 

A smirk slowly turned up half of Steven’s mouth, ”How about we make a deal?”

“No.”  
“I promise it won’t be anything you won’t want to do. Just drink with me.”  
“Because you’ll make me if I don’t want to?”

Steven walked up to him, still holding out the wine for him to take, “Maybe I won’t have to make you. You haven’t considered the potential of you doing something of your own volition. And we won’t find that out unless you drink with me.”

Tony glared up at him, before moving away, “I’m not thirsty.”

Steven looped his free arm around him. 

“Or hungry? Or tired?”   
“Or in the mood for your games.”

“You’re the one making this into a game, Tony.” Steven whispered in his ear, “One would think you actually enjoy this.”

“I... I don’t...”

“No? Are you sure about that? You did kiss me yesterday.”

Tony snatched the goblet from Steven’s hand and threw it against the wall, “I told you I’m not in the mood for your games!”

“I haven’t stopped thinking about that moment, you know. Your lips against mine.”

When Tony didn’t snap a witty comeback at him, Steven felt his heart skip a beat as he realised what that meant. 

“And you haven’t stopped thinking about it either.”

They stood in silence, staring at one another.   
There was a clatter as Steven tossed his goblet to the floor after draining it and Tony was suddenly surrounded by him, trying to push himself away and closer at the same time. 

Then the warm wine still in Steven’s mouth began to trickle into his. 

And all Steven had to do was nudge at his Dragonfire to make him swallow it, the wine bringing out a slight blush to Tony’s cheeks when he pulled away, panting. 

He moved in again, his hands cradling Tony’s head, urging him little by little to the bed while he plunged his tongue into that sweet mouth to taste the wine still lingering as slowly and deeply as he wanted. 

Tony dragged him down on top of him by his shirt, which Steven quickly removed, and as his hands focused on Tony’s and his lips moved to his neck, a moan of his name reached his ears. 

He didn’t care if Tony meant him or the Dragon, he just wanted to hear it again. 

It was only when he’d dragged Tony’s pants down to his knees that Tony stopped saying the name and the hands tracing his ribs began trying to push him away. 

He quickly pushed a finger inside him, Tony’s strangled cry only encouraging him to add a second as he rubbed his hand up and down Tony’s length, ignoring his endless loop of telling him to stop in favour of making Tony’s body respond to him when he pulled at the Dragonfire again, watching him shudder beneath him, his eyes scrunched tight. 

It wasn’t from pleasure though. 

Steven pulled his fingers out and stared at the small amount of blood coating them, Tony curling in on himself and sniffing into his pillow. 

He didn’t react when Steven pulled his pants back up for him and he didn’t try to push him away when he was covered in the bed’s linen and held close in some form of an apology, rubbing his back while Tony shook in his arms. 

How had he allowed it to get that far? 

He wanted to rationalise that doing as Steven wanted was the only way he was going to survive...But how much of himself would he lose along the way?

His defiance had brought pain and his cooperation had brought this unfathomable guilt that was so much worse than before. 

He tried to think back to his life before all of this and in all honesty it felt so far away, almost like a dream, and he could feel it slipping further away as he adjusted to this new life. 

He wanted to keep fighting, he had to get Stephen and Peter out of here...but his resolve to save them was fading, just like he was. 

He was broken. 

And he didn’t know if he knew how to put himself back together. 

~.~

Stephen had hated seeing his love in pain, being unable to stop it from happening, and having to watch him sleep in the arms of this abusive king who was causing that pain. 

It had killed him to see Tony give in to Steve’s touch and kiss him back not only to keep that pain away, but to keep him and Peter safe. 

And although he had known that Rogers wouldn’t give up on his twisted desires until he had broken Tony completely, even in his worst nightmares Stephen would never have thought that what he had just witnessed could have ever been a possibility. 

He was staring at the window, his hands scrunched into the sides of his cloak, the material grounding him as his thoughts fought each other. 

Watching Rogers kiss the man he was married to, touch where only he was allowed to, claim what was Stephen’s and nobody else’s, had turned his loathing into a Dragon’s rage within him.   
And then it had vanished, replaced by a haunting ache in his very soul that reverberated through him in Tony’s voice, asking him to stop. 

Stop this happening to him. 

Stephen’s legs began pacing, needing to do something. 

Agamotto watched him for a time before the silence became too much for her, “You must calm yourself, Stephen.”

“Calm myself? No, no I’m way past that. I’m going to tear Steve Rogers apart very methodically and slow enough to make him beg for a quick death!”

Agamotto was saying something but Stephen’s thoughts drowned her out. 

Even if there had been no way to prevent all this from happening, the least he could have done was seen it happening and warn Tony of what was to come. 

Maybe there would have been a small chance, one possibility out of millions, where they won and continued on with their lives. 

But now he’d never know. 

He didn’t deserve the title as Tony’s Sorcerer or as his Queen for that matter

Stephen sunk to the floor.   
All of this was his fault. 

Agamotto’s voice finally broke through his thoughts, “Do you truly believe that what you feel for him and what he feels for you in return is simply due to chance? Have you learnt nothing in your time living as-“

“What do you know?!” Stephen yelled, jumping to his feet and staring her down, “You spent most of your life teaching humans magic tricks and avoiding your own destiny instead of living a life of your own! You have no right to judge me!”

“I know that a life without love, is no life at all!” Agamotto said, her calm voice just making Stephen angrier. 

“And love without trust? What of that?   
My duty was to protect him. He trusted me to protect him and I failed! The vows I made to him on our wedding day are now hollow, all of the promises I ever made to him are empty! It would have been better if I had stayed his friend and kept my feelings to myself, then-“

Agamotto leaned her great head down to him, baring her large long fangs as a growl rumbled in her throat, “To say it would have been better to just stay his friend, is to say that the past twenty years you have lived by his side mean nothing to you. That the life you saved by giving up your Dragonfire means nothing to you.”

“Do not twist my words.”

“Then do not deny your heart. Your most important promise has not been broken yet.”

His most important promise?  
What could be more important than the promise to keep his love safe?

“What am I to do, Mordo?”

Stephen looked around at the window.   
Tony was fast asleep, finally, but Steve and Mordo were awake and talking in low voices so as not to wake him. 

“I’m trying to show him that I love him but it’s proving rather difficult to make him see.   
I hold him and he turns to ice in my arms.   
He kisses me and I feel him holding himself back.   
I try to make him feel what I do and he expresses pain.”

Mordo remained silent, his eyes fixed on the sleeping king. 

No.   
He wasn’t looking at Tony. 

Mordo was looking at the glowing web, and what had become of it made Stephen’s heart clench. 

The few golden threads left that were all leading to a singular large bead were heavily outnumbered by the numerous grey ends floating silently after the bead. 

Something big was going to happen and soon, and Stephen needed to be part of it to ensure none of those ends came true. 

Mordo seemed to be trying to work out what this particular event that was drawing ever closer could be, his thoughts interrupted by King Steven. 

“I need to do something for him! But what?”

“He did request his armour...”

“Yes, but I want to do something for him that would be a surprise.”

“I think he would be pretty surprised if you gave him his armour, my King.”

“And he already knows of the new clothes I have for him too.” Steve continued, ignoring Mordo’s comment. 

“The boy.”  
“What about him?”  
“Why don’t you let him out of the cell? King Anthony would be quite surprised if you did that.”

“Yes, and then the little runt will be running wild around the castle, do use your senses Mordo. Next, you’ll say I should release the other Dragons.” Steve snapped. 

Mordo’s eyes lit up, “Dragons!”  
“What?”  
“Dragons, my King, your Dragons!”

Steven smiled as he realised what Mordo meant. 

Stephen didn’t like the sound of that at all. 

~.~

When Tony woke the first thing he saw was a hideous cream doublet on a stand facing him. It had golden epaulettes on the shoulders with a crimson sash running diagonally on the front covering most of the golden buttons. 

He had a sinking feeling that this was what he had been fitted for. 

There was also a fresh pair of pants he recognised as his own, as well as a fresh under shirt for him to wear, folded neatly at the end of the bed. 

The pants were a struggle to get into, pain flaring within him when he lifted his legs too high, but he managed. 

He had just buttoned up his shirt when Steven entered the room, snagging the doublet off the stand and dressing him up in it while remarking how Tony now looked every part a King. 

Tony wanted to disagree but held his tongue. 

The doublet was so uncomfortably heavy he could feel sweat sliding down his back, making his shirt stick to him.   
After Steven had looked him over for the tenth time, he took his hand and lead him out of the room, saying he wanted to show him something when Tony questioned him.

And that’s how Tony had found himself standing before a door that looked like every other door in this god forsaken place, watching Steven take the gold and brass handle and letting Tony in first. 

Tony immediately felt sick. 

Dragon skulls of numerous shapes and sizes lined the rows of shelving, the biggest at the very end taking up at least half of the wall it was resting against. 

Scales of every colour were on the opposite wall, and in the middle of the room were metal stands holding weapons made from bone. 

How many Dragons had been slain only to become a mere decoration for this room? 

His fire was making him feel twice as uneasy and he began to back out of the room when he hit something solid. 

“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Steven smiled, his arms wrapping around him, “Each and every piece you see in this room is different from the next. No two are the same.”

Tony shook slightly at Steven comparing this horror to ‘art’, his eyes remaining fixed on the largest at the very end of the room. 

Steven chuckled, pushing Tony toward it. 

He didn’t want to approach it but his legs seemed to have other ideas as they brought him closer and closer to the magnificent Dragon skull. 

They stopped a few feet away from it, Steven moving a hand down to rest on Tony’s hip “Do you know what kind of Dragon that is?”

“A Crystal Dragon.”

He knew it.   
His fire knew it. 

The skull had the same structure, same high cheekbones and golden horns he had witnessed Stephen transform into all those years ago. 

“And do you know how it was killed?” Steven asked, mouthing over the shell of his ear. 

Tony’s eyes flicked to the right socket where a small chunk was missing and extended inward with a crude and jaggered crack. 

He felt something thin, cool and smooth slide into his hand as Steven’s own wrapped around it.   
He was holding a long bone pole with a sharpened tip and long sharp spikes on each side of it.   
Steven guided his and Tony’s hand up and pushed the pole along the deep crack. 

Tony felt bile rise up his throat, but he couldn’t let go and he couldn’t look away, watching as the thorns scraped along the bone, pushing further into the back of the skull. 

“Don’t you think this is the perfect place, Tony?” Steven murmured against his neck as his tongue licked at the soft skin and his hips pressed against his ass, making Tony jump, “The perfect place to make love?”

He felt Steven let go of his hand and move down his body, resting on his other hip before sliding under the thin material of his pants. 

The pole fell out of Tony’s shaking hand and clattered to the floor. 

He’d never had to choose one pain for another, but Tony would rather be suffocating right now than participate in anything like what had happened last night. 

“Stop.”

Steven had just about heard enough of that word and pushed him around to face him, his snarmy remark dying in his throat. 

Tony’s eyes once again had that blue tinge to them, but it was more intense and noticeable now than before with the blue glow bathing his eyelashes. 

Steven slowly pulled his hands away from him, watching that strange blue hue fade from the sparkling brown he loved so dearly. 

He didn’t move to stop Tony when he left or use his control over his flame when he so easily could have. 

Forcing him had given nothing in return. 

If he wanted Tony’s heart he had to earn it. 

And he knew just what to do. 

~.~

Tony was sitting in the library looking out of the window, his doublet discarded beside him and his book laying open and forgotten in his lap, when the doors opened and Steven strolled in, instantly walking over to him and taking his hand. 

“I have a gift for you.” Steven smiled, pulling Tony up from the seat and out of the library, almost dragging him behind him as Tony tried to free himself. 

They entered a decent sized room which had been cleared of everything save for something tall covered by a large cloth, Steven finally let go of Tony’s hand to remove it. 

Tony was taken aback. 

It was his armour. 

He didn’t think Steven would actually return it to him.   
Or was this some sort of test in his eyes?

Tony ran his fingers over one of the gauntlets attached to the suit before looking up at Steven, “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Happy Birthday.”

His birthday?

Tony was shocked that Steven still remembered it after all these years, but then his lips curved into a soft smile, “Thank you.”

Tony had smiled for the first time and it was all for him.   
He’d finally done something right and it hadn’t required the use of his magic. 

Steven felt his heart rise in his chest, his cheeks going a little red, “I just have one question about the design.”

He pointed at the center of the red and gold armour, “Why did you make a Crystal Dragon scale part of it?”

Tony simply turned back to the suit of armour, staring at the large single scale Stephen had said he could keep and do with as he pleased, his smile growing a little more at the memory. 

And the warmth in Steven’s chest was instantly replaced by cold hard jealousy. 

It was the Dragon that was making Tony smile now. 

Not him. 

Tony heard the door close, but didn’t pay it any mind.   
He ran his hand down the gauntlet once again, his fingers finding the smooth, cool ring still on the armour. 

He breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes. 

His wedding ring was still here. 

He missed it being on his finger but Steven would take it if he found out about it. 

He’d have to leave it here, but for how long?

~.~

Stephen’s hand moved to touch his own ring, feeling the bare skin instead. 

He remembered losing it somehow when he’d been swarmed by Mordo and a group of Azule knights during the attack.

It was then the slumbering Dragon beside him chose to wake, her eyes glowing brilliantly as she clawed at them. 

He didn’t want to hear what she was going to say when she finally turned to him, her expression sullen, but he didn’t have to as he saw her eyes sliding to his left. 

Not a moment later, purple sparks opened a gateway behind him and he felt those familiar chains on his body weighing him down even more. 

When he turned, Steve stepped right up to him and the chains tugged him down a little, “Tell me how you did it. How did you make him love you? Was it a spell? Was it pity for your miserable life? What makes you so special to him?”

Stephen’s thoughts were fighting again, but he couldn’t grab hold of a single one to shove in Steve’s face like he wanted. 

Why had Tony fallen in love with him?  
He hadn’t deserved that love and he especially didn’t deserve now. 

Steve grabbed him and Stephen opened his mouth but no words came out.   
Should he answer? Did he even have an answer?

Steve’s fists tightened and he could feel Agamotto’s eyes burning into his back, both waiting for his answer. 

He instead looked to the window. 

Tony was wearing the gauntlet with his wedding ring on it, flexing his fingers to make sure no joints had become stiff and in need of work. 

It was a scene he had walked in on many times over the years, and the familiarity of it had his heart lifting. 

And then he was being shoved to the ground. 

Steve looked like he’d just worked something out as his cold eyes stared down at him, “His Dragonfire...It’s been responding to you because of what you are. That’s how you made him love you, isn’t it? You were manipulating him!”

“I’m not like you, I’d never do anything like that to Tony.”  
“Perhaps not on purpose, but whenever I pull at that fire, or it reacts to his emotions in anyway, his eyes get a faint blue glow to them, and just now your eyes were doing the exact same.”

“That’s..not possible...” Stephen muttered, “That can’t be possible...”

“No matter what skin you choose to wear or how you try to play at being human, you were born a Dragon, you will die a Dragon, and that is all you will ever be!”

Rogers left, but as the chains faded, Stephen felt as if a hundred more had been wrapped around his body. 

He’d never noticed Tony’s eyes glowing before.   
Nor even his own. 

Was what Steve said true?

Had Tony only felt love for him in the beginning because his fire had been reacting to another Crystal Dragon?  
Had that feeling remained when he’d brought Tony back to him, only because of the flames reacting to its original host?

“Stephen?”

Stephen rolled over so his back was to her. 

What had he done?

~.~

The room Tony had been given to work on his armour was spacious enough for his needs, but now he had to contend with Steven’s visits. 

He’d let himself into the room and Tony would feel his fire pull him away from his work. 

He couldn’t tell if it was Steven’s hold or not anymore. 

Steven would talk about the difficulty of running two kingdoms, or have a gift Tony had no need for. 

And then one day, Tony looked up from his work when he felt a warm breeze ruffle his hair, seeing Steven standing next to an open portal leading to what looked like a bright sunny field, holding out his hand to him, “I want to show you something.”

Tony was half way to taking his hand when he stopped and quickly drew it back again, “You’re tricking me.”

“What?”  
“You said I wasn’t allowed to leave the castle, remember?”

“Ah.” Steven bowed his head, realising the misinterpretation, “Well, I shall be with you, so you are permitted to leave with me.”

Tony still looked a little skeptical. 

“I promise you no harm shall befall the Dragons on this special occasion.”

Steven stretched his hand out a little more and, with some trepidation, Tony slipped his hand into his own and was gently led through the orange portal. 

Green hills spread for miles and a rainbow of different wild flowers that had taken seed bloomed in the warm sun and nodded to each other in the wind. 

Tony felt like he hadn’t been outside in years. 

He moved from Steven’s side to gaze about him, his eyes falling on a cottage that had a waterwheel attached to the side, churning the water from the river beside it. 

“Do you like this place?” Steven asked as he stood beside him. 

Tony nodded, “Its so peaceful. Where are we?”

“Behind the mountains of Azule. These lands are mine to do with as I wish.”

Tony turned to him, “Why are we here?”

“Would you want to live here?”  
“Live here?”  
“Yes.”  
“Sure but...I can’t.”

“You can.” Steven smiled at him, getting down on one knee and showing Tony the jewelled ring he’d had made for him ever since they were bethrothed, “All you have to do is say ‘Yes.”

Tony was lost for words as they all jumbled in his head, fighting to get to his dry mouth first. 

“I wanted to give this to you so many times, back then and now, but it never felt like the right time.”

He took Tony’s hand and pulled him down until they were eye level. 

“I love you, Tony. I want you in my life. Just say that you want that too and I’ll make it happen. Say that you want me and you’ll have all of me. Say ‘Yes.”

Steven leaned in slowly, holding his chin as he pressed his lips to Tony’s and easily pushed his tongue inside his mouth. 

Tony quickly pulled out of the kiss, finally finding his words, “I can’t, Steven! I can’t-“

“What? Marry me when you’re already married? Marrying me will void your first marriage. And I’ll find someone to take care of our people while we live our lives. All three of us.”

“Three of us?”

“You.” Steven kissed him, “Me.” Steven kissed him again, “And the child. We’d be happy here. Just say ‘Yes.’ Tony.”

When Tony thought about it, he could picture Peter running through the fields here, free and happy and out of that grimy Dungeon cell.   
The boy deserved to grow up in a beautiful place like this but...with him and Steven?

Steven didn’t seem keen on waiting on his reply, shoving his tongue into his mouth again and pushing him down into the soft grass, Tony automatically responding with his own. 

And his entire body broke out in a cold sweat when he felt his fire flaring in his chest, making him feel sick. 

Was Steven even making it react this way? Or was it all him?

He didn’t want this. 

But he did want this.

Steven’s moaning was all he could he hear as he dragged his hips against his own, a portal opening beneath them and dropping them lightly into the bed they had been sharing. 

“Spread your legs for me, Tony.” Steven panted, licking into his mouth again. 

Tony didn’t want to. 

Tony did so. 

He heard a moan and realised it had been from himself. 

He felt his shirt ripped open and cold hands run over his too hot body. 

He closed his eyes, trying to stifle another moan before it could escape. 

He had to stop this from getting any further like last time but the words couldn’t get out. 

He didn’t want this. 

“Ohh, Tony.”

He didn’t. Want. This. 

“Steven, stop!” Tony finally managed out. 

He didn’t care what Steven did to him, he was going to be sick. 

He was sweating buckets, the feeling of his Dragonfire spreading out inside him felt unnatural and the nausea from everything happening to him made him want to empty his stomach. 

“Oh Tony, I cant stop now. Not even if I wanted to.”

Tony dry heaved and it was then Steven realised that something was wrong, quickly leaning back and allowing Tony some freedom to move. 

Tony only managed to lean half way off the bed before what little he had in his stomach spewed out of him into a puddle on the floor. 

He felt his fire pull out in a perverted imitation of trying to ease him and he shivered violently. 

“Please...Stop...” Tony panted. 

Something loosen within him, and while he still felt sick, it wasn’t as bad as it had been. He flopped down into his pillow and closed his eyes, drawing in long breaths incase Steven wanted to punish him. 

He felt Steven gently brush his sweat drenched hair back from his forehead and he leaned into the touch. 

It felt nice. 

It felt comforting. 

His hand was taken by the other and Tony held it. 

He didn’t notice Mordo arriving with a wet towel until Steven’s touch disappeared. 

Tony opened his eyes a fraction when the cool towel was placed on his forehead. 

Then Steven was standing up to leave. 

Tony snatched his hand before he could. 

He didn’t want to be alone. 

Steven gave him a warm smile, “Alright, I’ll stay.”

Tony felt like it was safe to remove his hand, watching Steven climb back into the bed they shared and resting a hand around his stomach. 

It felt nice being held like this. 

Sleep never came however, and as the hours ticked by, the sun setting and allowing night to creep in, time seemed to stretch. 

As he lay there in the darkness, Steven snoring lightly, Tony knew he had to come to terms with what his life was now. 

It was this. 

It was this castle instead of his own.   
This kingdom instead of his own.   
This Steven instead of...

Tony closed his eyes, willing his thoughts to leave him be so he could try to sleep, his eyes stinging. 

And they did after a time, save for one before sleep took him. 

He’d never see his Stephen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super proud of how this chapter turned out, and we only got 2 more chapters to go before this story comes to a close. 
> 
> Comments are coffee, please leave one I love talking with you guys 💖


	6. Chapter 6

Tony woke to Steven’s arms still wrapped loosely around him, his chest pressing against his back. 

It was warm. 

Had it always felt like that?

“Good Morning.” Steven smiled when Tony turned to face him. 

Tony didn’t fling himself out of the bed like he used to, and when Steven chanced running his fingers down Tony’s cheek, he didn’t recoil as if he’d been burnt. 

He didn’t try to stop him in any way when he drew nearer to those perfect lips either. 

Steven pressed his tongue into Tony’s mouth, pushing him back down into the bed and rubbing his hard cock against Tony’s more than interested one. 

Tony couldn’t help the moan which escaped him as they kissed, wrapping his arms around Steven’s shoulders and pulling his shirt over his head as his legs nestled against his hips. 

“I love you, Tony.” Steven murmured against the skin of his chest, “There is nothing in this world that will ever change that. Nothing.”

Tony shivered under him as Steven licked the warm blue skin, panting heavily while his hips rolled up into him. 

“Steven!” Tony groaned, one hand lost in the blond hair as his other clenched the shirt he was still holding onto. 

A portal opened not a moment later and Mordo walked in, halting in the middle of what he was saying at the scene before him. 

“Oh! Umm...”

“Get out!” Steven yelled at him. 

“But, my king-“  
“NOW!”

“It’s alright, Steven.” Tony smiled up at him, “We can continue this later. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your duties.”

Steven didn’t want to stop this.   
Whatever it was, no matter how urgent, could wait until after he’d heard Tony scream his name and made sure the Dragon had heard it too.

But the look Mordo was giving him told him it couldn’t wait.   
That it was too urgent to be ignored. 

He sighed and leaned down to kiss Tony once more, biting his bottom lip when he finally pulled away, “Until later, then.”

His hand wrapped around Tony’s, taking his shirt from him and pulling it back on, following Mordo out of the room with a smile as the portal closed around them. 

Tony sat on the bed, listening to the quiet of the castle around him, before looking down at his hand, the sling ring he’d snagged from Steven’s shirt pocket still in his palm. 

He quickly put it on as he stood, buttoning up his shirt in the process and wiping his mouth free of Steven’s saliva on the sleeve.   
His thoughts instantly turned to Stephen, his entire body almost the consistency of jelly with how much he was shaking in anticipation of seeing him again. 

He moved his hand through the air before him, just the way he’d been taught to do, but the portal didn’t appear. 

Tony took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.   
To focus on Stephen and not his longing to see him again. 

He scrunched his eyes shut tightly. 

Then he raised his hand, swirling it through the air. 

He heard the sparks, he felt a breeze, and then his fire rose gently within him and Tony lost all feeling in his legs. 

It felt completely different to how he’d been forced to feel. 

A warm body held him against it, strong and safe and keeping him upright. 

He knew those hands holding him.   
He knew that scent which lingered in another bed in another kingdom. 

“Tony.”

It had been so long since he’d heard his voice, but Tony didn’t open his eyes.   
He just wanted to enjoy this a little longer. 

He didn’t want to wake if this was just a dream. 

His hands moved up the soft cloth of the robes he knew so well, of the worn material of the old cloak he himself had given him. 

“Tony. It’s alright. I’m here. Open your eyes. Please.”

Tony did so, looking up at Stephen. 

Stephen smiled down at him, his eyes brilliant and beautiful. 

Tony reached up, resting his shaking hand against his cheek, the words he wanted to say long forgotten, his breath stuck in his chest and his eyes brimming with tears at the sight of him. 

He was here.   
He was actually here after so long. 

Stephen lay his hand over Tony’s, pressing it firmer against his cheek in reassurance as he leaned in closer to his love. 

And Tony flinched. 

Stephen was inches away from his lips when he felt it. 

They shared breaths; Stephen’s slow ones mixing with Tony’s panicked. 

“Breathe with me, love.” Stephen whispered, “Just breathe.”

Tony swallowed thickly and tried to match his breaths with Stephen’s. 

And they stayed like that until Tony’s breathing slowed and the tension in his body eased away, his eyes flicking between Stephen’s hooded gaze and his slightly parted lips. 

Stephen didn’t move a muscle.   
Oh he was far from content just holding him.   
His mind had wandered aimlessly during those long hours when all he could see was Tony and his body ached to feel him once more.   
He wanted to do so many things all at once right here in this room. 

But if Tony wanted to move away from him, he would let him go in a heartbeat. 

Tony inclined his head ever so slightly and his eyes slowly slid closed as he leant into the minuscule distance between them with a slight press of lips. 

There was no touch of tongue trying to force its way inside his mouth. 

There were no hands on him pushing at his body or pulling at his clothing. 

And there was no magic making his flame ignite further within him. 

Tony sobbed into the kiss, clutching Stephen’s robes tighter in his fists as he kissed him again. 

Stephen didn’t let him go, didn’t pull away, simply stood there holding him until Tony ended their kiss and rested his head on Stephen’s chest, comforted by the strange warmth he always radiated that made him feel safe and protected. 

“I hate to break this up, but you must hurry.” Came a new voice. 

Tony pulled away to see a green Dragon behind Stephen through the portal he had opened. 

Tony stared. 

“This is Agamotto.” Stephen introduced. 

Tony looked from Stephen to the Dragon, “That was your eye in the necklace?”

Stephen’s body shook with the laughter he was trying to suppress, making Tony’s grin wider. 

Agamotto didn’t look impressed, “You must return to your own kingdom.”

“We need a sling ring.”  
“I have this one.”  
“That one will only open a portal to where I was being kept. If I still had my one-“  
“Mordo has it.”

“Of course he does.” Stephen pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand while keeping one still wrapped around Tony, “We’ll need it to get back home quickly.”

“We also need to get Peter out of the Dungeons if he hasn’t been moved.”

“He hasn’t.”

They both looked to the Dragon. 

“He is still in the same cell you found him in, however, getting to him will prove to be a little more challenging than the first time.”

Stephen remembered the trap portal Tony had fallen through, knowing there were bound to be more traps now. 

“Then how do we get him out?”

“There is a possibility.”

Agamotto had their full attention. 

This was it, what she’d been resisting all her life. 

She felt oddly calm about it.   
Maybe it was because the end of her life meant that three could live. 

If everything went according to plan. 

“This castle is tied to this dimension, and this dimension is tied to me. If I were to leave it they would bleed into one another before the castle succumbs.   
But...while it is happening, you will have a window of opportunity to get that ring, get the boy and get out of here.”

“But dimensions like this draw on the lives they’re tethered to. In the end it will kill you!”

Silence fell between master and student. 

“It will.” She finally said. 

Stephen opened his mouth to argue but her gaze stopped him, her right eye glowing a little brighter than her left. 

“There is no other way.”

Stephen looked to Tony, who shared his expression. 

They had to do this, and most likely they were all going to die trying. 

He looked to his old master once again, his heart heavy as he knew this would be the last time he would see her. 

“Okay.”

~.~

The plan was not a foolproof one. 

Agamotto would deal with the Azule Knights, keeping them preoccupied for as long as she was able. 

Tony would get the ring that could control his Dragonfire from Rogers and Stephen would get his sling ring from Mordo.   
Then all that was left to do was grab Peter in one arm and Tony in the other and high tail it out of the castle before it came crashing down and killed them all.

It was a solid enough plan for how quickly they had put it together. 

Solid.   
But not foolproof. 

Tony opened the bedroom door a crack and peered out into the empty corridor while Stephen finally removed the collar

There was no sign of Steven or Mordo or even any castle staff. 

It was completely deserted. 

The door creaked loudly when he opened it fully. 

They had to get to the hall a few floors below them so they could get into the dungeons. 

But Stephen couldn’t help but worry as he followed Tony down the corridor of red carpet.   
One wrong move and their fates would change for the worse. 

Tony hadn’t said a word to him since they’d left the bedroom, more focused on leading him through the castle. 

Stephen needed to say something before they did this.   
In case there was no after for him. 

He reached for the man ahead of him, his arm heavy as though he were dragging it through water, his hand latching around Tony’s wrist and tugging him back. 

Tony stopped, giving him a confused look over his shoulder. 

“To...”

He couldn’t do it. 

Giving up the very essence that had made him a Dragon had been easier than trying to make his voice work so he could give words of comfort to his love. 

He tugged again and Tony was in front of him, those brown eyes sparkling as he gazed silently up at him. 

There was so much Stephen wanted to say. 

I’m sorry.   
I love you.   
I know there’s no future for me, but I’ll make damn sure there’s one for you. 

But the words wouldn’t come out of his trembling lips. 

Tony blinked slowly, his expression one of solemn understanding. 

His mind had been in an endless loop of thinking up different ways to counter anything that could turn their plans to dust.   
He couldn’t help but think of what future would lay ahead for them and their kingdom if he and Stephen were unsuccessful today, or if Steven were to somehow survive having his castle dropped on his head. 

But if this was going to be their last moment together, he didn’t want to spend it thinking about what could or could not happen. 

Tony’s hands, which had been moving slowly up Stephen’s chest, brushed back the grey hairs at his temples and pulled his head down to rest their foreheads to one another, both closing their eyes to savour the moment. 

He wished they’d had more time together; with each other, with Peter, as a family. 

If he died today, but Stephen and Peter got to live, he could accept that. 

Stephen’s warm hands were on the back of his neck, his fingers pressing up into his hair as his own were looped over Stephen’s hunched shoulders, neither wanting to let go if this was to be the last time they’d get to hold one another. 

Stephen opened his eyes to see Tony’s were open too, and then he was pulling away, keeping a hold of Stephen’s hand as he turned to continue through the castle. 

It had remained unsaid, but they both knew what it was the other had wanted to say. 

I’m sorry. 

I love you. 

I know there’s no future for me, but I’ll make damn sure there’s one for you. 

~.~

Stephen was thankful Tony knew where he was going because he felt incredibly lost. 

He would be thankful too that no one had strayed across their path yet, but he was becoming more and more suspicious of that fact, the tightening of Tony’s hand around his own telling him he felt the same way. 

They were descending their third staircase when the hall came into view. 

And it was completely empty. 

No Rogers or Mordo.   
No servant or guard. 

Stephen looked to Tony, his blood freezing in his veins at the figure standing right behind him. 

He had no time to react when the hands that had been inflicting so much pain grabbed his love and pinned his arms to his sides. 

He would have been prepared to get Tony to safety and die trying if not for a portal opening underneath him at the same time, sucking him through to where Mordo was waiting for him. 

“I don’t remember giving you permission to let the beast out of its cage.” Steven remarked, one hand snaking its way under Tony’s shirt, gliding up his belly and ribs and stopping momentarily to grope at his fire. 

Tony arched away from him only to be pulled back roughly, the hand on his chest continuing up to his throat and pressing while Steven buried his nose in his hair. 

He heard him take a deep, long breath.   
“You think to leave me? I won’t let you.”

The hand around Tony’s throat pressed a little more. 

”Not alive anyway.”

“Stephen Strange.” Mordo’s tone was almost mocking while he took a step, his arms spread wide, “Its been such a long time.”

“Actually, my last name is Stark now. Something you’d know if you’d been invited to the wedding.” Stephen panted, keeping his eyes on Mordo while the Sorcerer circled him. 

“A name you neither earned nor deserve.” Mordo waved a finger at him, Stephen locking onto the sling ring upon it, “You and I both know you don’t deserve the life you have lived. That out of the two of us, it should have been me.”

Mordo stopped pacing and Stephen’s eyes narrowed, remembering how uncomfortable he’d felt seeing his old friend so close to Tony, his magic flowing easily through his veins now he was free from that collar and sparking at his fingertips. 

“What gave you the right?” Mordo sneered, pulling a wooden staff from its position on his back and extending it, the golden magic holding it together reflected in his dark eyes as they met Stephen’s, “What gave you the right to be handed everything I’ve had to fight for?!”

He pulled the weopan back and whipped it out at Stephen, who blocked the attack with his own magic. 

“This should be quite the show.” Steven whispered, the hand around Tony’s neck the only thing keeping him from looking away as the two Sorcerers battled in the circular hall below them. 

It was then something hard and metallic hit Rogers in the back of the head, throwing him forward and Tony out of his grip onto the tiled floor. 

Steven didn’t bother looking around for the asailant as he drew his sword and advanced on Tony, who spun around to face him, “I won’t ever let you leave me again.” He promised with a half crazed smile, raising the sword above his head.

Tony just glared at him.   
A cold, stone hard look accentuated by that mysterious faint blue glow that only served to remind him of just how stubborn Tony was, and always had been.   
A look that he had both hated and adored whenever it had been directed at him, and it had always been directed at him. 

In a way he had missed it, and it sent a slight thrill through up his spine knowing that that icy glare would be the last thing he’d see on Tony’s face. 

Tony’s right arm came up to defend himself as Steven brought his sword down, the loud clang it made as it struck Tony’s now armoured forearm ringing around them. 

Pieces of the red and gold armour Tony had insisted be brought to him whirled around the brilliant man who had made it, slipping over his hands and feet and connecting to the others stuck on his chest and back, forming a complete suit in a matter of seconds with the help of the orange glow around his hands. 

Steven could only stare at the Crystal Dragon scale in the center of the armour, glowing bright blue from the light of the fire he’d so desperately wanted to possess, as he realised the trap he’d fallen into.   
“You’ve been planning this..from the beginning...haven’t you?” His words shook with the anger that boiled within him, “You made me believe you were falling in love with me...while you were actually trying to rescue...the DRAGON?!”

Tony’s face disappeared behind the face mask of his helmet, those brown eyes now obscured by that same blue light. 

He wouldn’t let Tony hide from him.  
He brought his sword down again and again, cracking the gauntlet Tony was still using to protect himself before it was wrenched it out of his grip on the third swing and thrown away, the armour covering Tony’s right arm falling away as he did so. 

A piece of armour on Tony’s left arm opened up and a blade snapped out, Steven throwing himself back as Tony swiped at him, cutting through the expensive cloth of his shirt. 

Steven was amazed at the trick literally up Tony’s sleeve.   
Why had the gods cursed him to love one such as him?

It was then the castle rumbled around them, shaking dust from the old stone walls. 

Agamotto had left the dimension. 

“Why?” Steven demanded, rushing forward and grabbing the blade as Tony swung at him again, “He’s been manipulating you since the beginning and you still want to be with him? What you feel for him isn’t love!”

Tony refused to engage in the banter, opting instead to jerk the blade out of Steven’s hand, slicing his palm open. 

Steven didn’t even feel it, locking Tony’s blade in his arms as he effortlessly bent Tony down and snapped the blade off with his foot before they both tumbled to the ground. 

He tore at the armour with his bare hands, punching the faceplate over and over as Tony tried to defend himself from the onslaught of his attacks. 

He didn’t care if he wore his fists down to bloody stumps, he would make Tony pay for what he’d done. 

And then he saw the red thin metal Tony had attacked him with, just barely a foot away from him. 

Within seconds, Steven had Tony pinned beneath him with one hand while his other retrieved the blade. 

Then he plunged it down into the glowing blue bullseye of Tony’s chest. 

The blade bounced off the Crystal Dragon scale and right out of Steven’s hand, not even leaving a scratch where it had struck. 

“You haven’t changed one bit, Rogers.” Tony sneered darkly, his voice a metallic ring in his ears. 

Something clicked underneath him and curved hooks, which had been hiding inside the armour of Tony’s legs, snapped out and dug into his thighs, his yell more one of surprise than of pain. 

Tony threw him off, the hooks ripping out of his skin as they retracted back into the weaponised armour Tony was wearing. 

Steven managed to crawl to his knees, “Why couldn’t you just love me? Stay with me? Why choose that filthy animal again and again when you could have me?” 

Tony couldn’t keep it in any longer. 

“Because he is three thousand times the man you are!” he yelled, panting as he stood over Rogers, “He doesn’t kill Dragons and keep their remains displayed in some trophy room or hurt others because he’s bored and has the power and means to do so.   
Even after twenty years you still don’t get it! I. Don’t. Love. You!”

The castle groaned around them as Rogers knelt before him, his head dropping to his chest, seemingly in defeat. 

As Tony reached for the purple ring that had been making his life an oxygen deprived nightmare, he felt a sickly familiar grip take hold of his fire and begin to tighten around it. 

“Stop it!”  
“I can make you love me...I can make you.”

Tony doubled over, his insides churning and heart racing.   
“Stop it!” He yelled again, desperately trying to breathe through his panic. 

Hard ground struck his knees as he realised he’d fallen with no memory of the few seconds in between.   
Then something collided with the metal of his faceplate, a bleary vision of Rogers was all he could make out as he continuously slammed his bleeding fists against it. 

Tony desperately tried moving his arms to defend himself, but the magic hold on him was keeping him down as he violently shuddered through the pain inside his body and out. 

“Why?” He heard Rogers demand again. 

He wanted to open his mouth to answer but couldn’t find his voice. The faceplate dented and shifted with each hit, the helmet holding onto it becoming more and more loose. 

“WHY?!”

The faceplate cracked and flew off and the helmet shattered all over the floor, finally revealing the man behind it. 

Tony fell forward, his breath raspy as he spat some blood out. 

“Weren’t you happy?!” Rogers demanded of him. 

All that managed to escape Tony was a light moan. 

Steve leant down and grabbed Tony’s face, Tony only managing a weak flinch. 

“When it was just you and me, weren’t you happy? I remember the softness in your features and the calmness in your voice. You didn’t fear me, or hate me, you weren’t concerned with the Dragons at all. For the briefest of moments we shared, you were truly mine. Didn’t that mean anything to you? Didn’t you want to stay with me? I could feel that you did. I could sense you slowly starting to pull out of the hold that beast had on you, and turn my way.   
You still can, Tony. You can still stay here with me, you can still be happy. I’ll forgive this, all of this. Just stay with me.”

He rubbed his blood over Tony’s face, his hands gentle despite the anger they had just unleashed. 

Tony looked up at him, his body swaying with each intake of breath. 

“I was happy...just not with you.”

That wasn’t the answer Rogers had wanted.   
He gave Tony a cold look before pushing him away. 

“Looks like I’ll have to go back to my original plan then!”

Tony screamed as that horrible preassure still wrapped inside him became ten fold, dragging him to the ground. 

He couldn’t breathe.   
He couldn’t think.   
He was going to die here and this pain was going to be the last thing he felt. 

And the last thing he was going to hear besides his own screaming was...a portal opening?

He managed to look up at Rogers. 

And everything seemed to slow around him as he saw Peter struggling in his grip.

“You brought this on yourself, Tony!” Rogers yelled, wrapping a hand around the boy’s thin neck and beginning to squeeze. 

“Don’t! Please don’t!” Tony cried with what little air he had left, managing to get half way up before his arms collapsed under him. 

His heart was pounding erratically, his hands were splayed on the tiled floor, curling into fists as the Dragonfire within him struggled to burn. 

He had to get up and fight. 

He had promised Peter that he wouldn’t let anything happen to him. 

That he would keep him safe. 

He knew he had been doing a shit job of keeping that promise, but he was going to stick by it no matter what. 

“Dad!”

Tony’s mind went blank as he stared up at the young boy. 

He was looking right at him. 

As if...

As if he meant Tony by that word. 

“Dad!” Peter cried again. 

The word rang in Tony’s ears, his anger and loathing at all that had transpired to his family building within him, fanning the flames in his chest and allowing him to finally breathe. 

He could still feel the magical hold on him, but it was losing control as his fire became a raging inferno within him. 

“Let...go...” Tony’s body shook with every word he managed to force out, “Of...my SON!”

He fixed his eyes on a fearful Rogers as bright blue flames erupted out of his body and consumed him, turning his irises the same shade. 

The flames danced around him, plates of his armour rattling and snapping off as more flames burst out of his back.

Rogers stared at the Dragon form the flames had taken, curling around Tony protectively as the wings at his back expanded. 

“Tony?”

Tony thrust his hand forward, a bolt of flame shooting out of his palm towards Rogers, making him let go of Peter. 

He didn’t see where Peter had gone.   
He didn’t hear Stephen yell out to him.   
All he could focus on was Rogers, and dealing out as much pain as he had inflicted as he flew forward. 

“TONY!” Stephen yelled again, the images from his nightmare almost taking over his vision. 

He had to get to him.   
He’d just gotten him back, he wasn’t going to lose him again. 

“Why did you bring Peter into this?!” Stephen yelled, grabbing the weapon he’d been dodging for most of their fight and trying to wrestle it out of Mordo’s grip, “He’s just an innocent child! Someone you would have protected if you had any humanity left in you!”

“Don’t you dare speak of humanity when you are the farthest thing from human here, Strange!” Mordo growled, spinning them around in an unsuccessful attempt to get Stephen to let go, “You, who would have slaughtered that boy if he’d been born when you still had your true form. He and the King you’ve dedicated your pitiful existence to. You wouldn’t have bat an eye at their burnt, mangled bodies!”

Stephen grit his teeth and jerked the magical staff up, hitting Mordo in the face.   
There was a loud pop as the magic holding the weapon together vanished, and part of the hard polished wood snapped off from the impact. 

Mordo reeled back, giving Stephen enough time to grab the hand with the sling ring, Mordo blasting him back a few feet before he could get it off. 

Stephen slid to a stop and had just resolved himself to trying again when the floor beneath him cracked loudly. 

He quickly rolled to safety as the space where he had been fell away, turning his attention to the rest of the room. 

The circular hall they had been in was slowly collapsing into a giant hole that had formed at the center of it, and the same mist that had made up the dimension he’d been trapped in was floating down the walls and around his feet. 

He didn’t have much time to get that ring before the castle came down. 

He turned back to Mordo, who had a trickle of blood slowly dripping down his face from where Stephen had hit him. 

“You want this ring, Strange? You’ll have to beat me first, and you know you’ve never been able to!”

Mordo opened a portal and darted through it, Stephen running after him before he could close it and ending up on the floor above where Tony and Rogers were fighting. 

He tried to steal a glance but was knocked back to reality by a sharp pain in his shoulder and Mordo’s laughter. 

Once he got that ring, he could get to Tony and Peter.   
It was the only way. 

He just hoped the castle remained standing until he did. 

“This is incredible! Don’t you see? Your human soul and the power of the Crystal Dragon have merged, allowing you to use it! You truly are amazing, Tony!”

The fire raging from within Tony had taken all but his vision and anger, leaving only a steadily annoying tickle in his throat where his voice longed to yell and shout and curse the day they’d been forced to meet. 

He advanced, blasting him again and again until that insistent scratching accompanied by the taste of blood made him want to stop. 

But he couldn’t stop. 

Not until he’d killed him and made sure the future he wanted for Stephen and Peter was safe from him. 

He lifted his hand, feeling the flames gathering in his palm and tried not to retch as blood pooled in his chest. 

Just one last attack and he’d stop. 

He coughed, choking on the air struggling to get to his lungs. 

Just a little more...

“Dad!”

Over the rushing in his ears and through the fury that was fueling his flame, he heard Peter cry out to him. 

Tony half turned toward the sound, his flame dissolving away and his hand lowering as he stared. 

The floor had slowly been weakening and most of it was now on an angle, creating a slippery one way trip to the dark abyss that had opened up below them like an enormous mouth waiting for a feed. 

Some unfortunate guards who had been trying to escape the castle were now sliding to their doom, aided by their sleek armour. 

Tony heard the cry again, the blue in his eyes dying down to their original brown when he saw Peter was hanging off the edge. 

He forgot all about Rogers. 

Tony dived, scooping up a nearby sword which had been slowly rattling its way down to follow its owner as he slid past it. 

He grit his teeth and reached for the boy, stabbing the sword into the edge of the platform before he went over, his hand wrapping around Peter’s just as he fell. 

Tony groaned as his arms strained and stretched, barely lifting Peter up an inch before a loud clicking came from the sword being used as an anchor for their combined weight. 

Tony panted and coughed, looking down into Peter’s scared brown eyes. 

He could feel his hand slipping from his grasp. 

“I got you Peter! I’m not going to let you go, ok?”

Peter cried as the platform shook, his sweaty hand slipping a little further in Tony’s tightening grasp. 

“Peter! You need to climb!”

Peter shook his head, “No!” 

“I know you don’t want to, I know it scares you, but you won’t fall. I won’t let you fall, I promise. You trust me, right?”

Peter nodded. 

“Just take it slow. I won’t let you go. Just try it Petey. Try it for me.”

Peter swung his arm up, his hand barely touching the metal of Tony’s armour for a second before it slipped off again, Peter making a distressed noise. 

“It’s ok! It’s ok! I still got you!” Tony strained, barely holding onto Peter’s fingers, “You can do it!”

Peter swung his hand up again and this time it latched on. 

“Great work! Now pull yourself up!”

Peter did as he was told and Tony managed to get a better grip on him, pulling him up with him and wrapping his arm around him. 

“Nice work, Kid! You did great! You were great!” 

The platform shifted violently, Tony straining to keep a hold on the sword as they swung over the darkness waiting for them. 

“Ok! Ok Pete, you did great! Now I need you to keep climbing.”

Peter’s arms around him tightened and he felt him shake his head. 

“N-no...”

“I’ll be right behind you.” Tony lied, “You can do it Pete. We gotta get out of here. Just climb up and run and don’t look back. Once you’re safe, I’ll climb up too, Ok? You can do that for me, right?”

Peter nodded and Tony held him tightly, kissing the side of his head, “Off you go then, Kid.”

He helped Peter up, watching him stick to the now almost vertical rock and begin his climb, much more confident in himself. 

Tony sighed in relief when Peter reached the top and disappeared. 

He was safe.   
That was all that mattered. 

The once flooring he was hanging from suddenly shifted again. 

“I’m too old for this shit!” Tony muttered as the slope finally snapped off and fell backwards, throwing Tony forward onto it as it became wedged between two walls. 

Tony left the sword behind in favour of getting off before it took him down with it. 

He climbed up onto the next ledge, managing to pull himself half way up before he was kicked back down by Rogers, who jumped after him. 

Tony scrambled for the sword, the platform groaning as it slid down a little, deep cracks forming in the surface.   
It wasn’t going to hold for much longer. 

“The hell is wrong with you?!” Tony yelled, “Your castle is coming down around us and you still want to fight?”

“You’re not leaving! I can still fix this-“

“It’s over, Rogers!” Tony tried once again to pull his flame out to aid him but it wasn’t working, only managing to send himself into a series of deep rasping coughs. 

“Over? And what do you believe will happen when it is over? You think he’ll stay with you?” Rogers laughed, “He saw everything. He saw us kissing, sleeping, he saw how willingly you spread your legs for me.”

The colour drained from Tony’s face. 

“You really think he’ll want to stay with you after seeing you in my arms? He may care about you, he may even love you, but in the end he’ll leave you. And you know he will.”

Tony looked down at his wedding ring still attached to his armoured finger as he gripped the sword handle still stuck in the ground. 

Stephen...

Sparks flew between them, Stephen stuck defending himself from the onslaught of Mordo’s spells no matter what he did.   
Mordo was quick and precise with his movements, dodging whatever Stephen had thrown at him and only adding to the destruction the castle was currently finding itself in. 

The floor crumbled wherever he stepped, larger and larger pieces of debris raining down on them as the upper floors became victim to Agamotto’s wrath while the lower half of the castle tried to hold them up around the gaping chasm that seemed to have no end. 

He tried looking around for Tony, hoping to see him safe, but couldn’t steal more than a second before Mordo drew his attention again. 

A blast struck at his feet and he had to step back once more, Mordo pushing him further toward the edge of their soon to be grave if he didn’t get that ring. 

“Do you remember that night?” Mordo called to him, “The night I left that accursed school? I’d tried to get you to come with me before learning of your heritage. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you, Strange! We could have been far away from Kings and the mess they make!”

“I couldn’t go with you, Tony needed me!”

“To do what, exactly? To be the cause of King Steven’s attack? To aggravate a heart broken man into killing him?”

“To protect him!” 

An orange bolt came hurtling at him and burst through one of his shields, his magic crackling as it vanished from his hand. 

“You can’t believe that! Not after everything that has happened. What exactly did you protect him from?!”

Stephen deflected two more bolts with his last shield before that too was destroyed, a third striking him in the chest and knocking him flat on his back. 

Mordo panted, sweat beading his forehead from the exertion of their fight. 

“All you ever do, and have ever done, is destroy lives. Mine, King Steven’s and even your precious Tony!  
You are the cause for my being here.   
You are the cause for everything that has transpired here.   
And you will be the cause of why we all die here!”

Stephen had heard enough 

“You can blame me for your own mistakes...and you can blame me...for the deaths of your family that I don’t remember if that makes you feel any better.” Stephen spat, getting back to his feet, a little winded, “But words of blame is all you have! I’ll not bear the responsibility of your decisions to stand by and watch as Tony suffered, or to leave a scared child locked in a dungeon, or to kill the very people who came to you for help!   
Blaming me won’t take away the guilt of following his orders, Mordo!”

Mordo grit his teeth, orange lightning bursting out of his hands and dragging Stephen back to his knees, “You know nothing of what I’ve had to endure!” He yelled, smoke billowing from Stephen’s robes as he watched him pull himself shakily back up, “The orders I had no choice but to carry out, given to me by a King against the very civilians who put their trust in him to keep them safe!”

Stephen leant back, “Oh, but I do know. There is no hiding what the darkness of taking innocent lives does to you. There is no forgiveness for it, and no forgetting it.”

The castle rumbled loudly around them. 

“I did find it strange when we were told those who had been bitten were taken into the castle, and stranger still when Tony found the Dungeons and there wasn’t a soul in any of those empty cells.”

A large rock fell beside Stephen’s knee. 

“But were she to die, the dimension you had sealed Agamotto in would have torn itself apart, just like it is now.”

He grinned, “You are just as much a monster as I was, Mordo. More so, even.”

He saw the lightning forming in Mordo’s hands and quickly leapt off the edge as it came charging toward him, piercing through the cloak instead and tearing the long material off of his shoulders. 

He landed heavily on a small piece of flooring and quickly rolled out of the way of another blast which struck where he had been seconds before, using a large pillar which was now half its original size for cover. 

“You never knew when to give up!” Mordo called from above him. 

Stephen looked around for anything he could use to his advantage, his cloak catching his eye at the very edge of the floor before him. 

Stephen ran to it, the shaking ground and blast at his feet making him trip over. 

The red cloak slid down a little more, and as he grabbed at it, it slipped completely off the edge, floating out of his reach before it was devoured by the darkness below. 

The cloak Tony had given him was gone.   
That one piece of red cloth which had been a birthday present, a reminder of their first kiss, a blanket for the cold nights and which had had so many memories woven into it, was gone forever. 

Mordo unleashed another powerful electric streak at him, golden ropes tying around his ankles and dragging him back as he squirmed through the magical current surging through his entire body. 

And at this very moment, the broken floor and dislodged platforms they had been fighting on shook violently as Agamotto roared and landed a few feet away from them, the castle dropping an entire floor, only being held up by a few stubborn supports. 

Mordo lost his balance, managing to grab hold of the ledge before he fell off. 

Stephen, now free from Mordo’s magic, held tightly onto the pillar to his left. 

Tony gripped the sword handle still wedged into the floor tightly as Agamotto roared again and slammed her massive claws down on the platform, breaking it in half as she grabbed Rogers. 

It was only for a moment he felt himself falling, his body hitting something loose but solid enough to support his weight. 

He looked up to see the two giant chunks of platform he had just been on crashing toward him and Tony braced for the impact. 

When it didn’t come, he cracked an eye open to see Peter, standing over him and keeping the giant blocks from flattening him. 

Tony stared in disbelief. 

Peter was holding it up all by himself when he should have been gone from here ages ago. 

Peter groaned under the immense weight, looking down at him, “Dad!” his little voice strained. 

The rubble was beginning to take a toll on the young boy and his unreliable powers. 

Tony began pushing at it himself, his fire spluttering out of his hands and a bloody cough from his lungs as he tried to make enough room for them both to escape. 

They had to escape. 

“You still think...none of this...is your fault?” Mordo panted as Stephen tried once again to crawl away from him. 

“You? Who took my family from me!” Mordo yelled, another bolt of electricity erupting out of his hands and into Stephen’s body, only stopping when he saw some new targets. 

“And now...”

Mordo turned his attention to Tony and Peter trying to free themselves from under the large piece of debris. 

“I’ll take yours.”

Mordo’s hands moved through the air, lightning flaring and cracking in his palms. 

Stephen dragged his aching body up from the floor and grabbed them just as Mordo unleashed the spell. 

The blood curdling scream that erupted out of him was anything but human. 

The lightning was travelling up through his fingers and hands, frying nerves and popping veins as it made its way up his arms toward his heart. 

“Strange! Let go!”

Stephen struggled as he began to push back at the power with his own, his eyes flying open to reveal irises as golden as the crackling energy slowly building between them. 

He could feel it being forced back down the way it had come as it continued to grow between them. Maybe if he could take control of it he could direct it to shatter the large rocks that had his family pinned beneath them. 

Mordo was fighting him more and more desperately, trying to free himself from Stephen’s grip. 

And then he pulled free. 

The ensuing blast knocked Stephen and Mordo out cold, rays of lightning lasering through walls up and down and barely missing Tony’s head as it struck through the loose bricks he was laying on. 

He did it on instinct. 

Using what little strength he had left, Tony grabbed Peter and shoved him out from under the debris they had so desperately been trying to hold up as the floor beneath him gave way. 

He fell down into the darkness that had been eagerly waiting for him, down further and further, the rest of the castle following after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, we have just one chapter left!
> 
> But OSAF, it says 8 chapters!
> 
> Right you are friend! The 8th chapter will be a one shot story much like Heart had.   
> I’m still working out what I want to happen in it, all I know is it will have a modern setting, so keep an eye out for that when it eventually drops!
> 
> Thank you for reading and I’ll see you guys in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

The first thing Stephen felt when he woke, was pain. 

Pain in his hands, which were shaking uncontrollably and covered in horrible red scars from each fingertip, zigzagging their way up his skin. 

Pain in his leg, which was stuck under a heavy piece of rubble atop him and didn’t want to budge. 

And a constant throbbing pain in his head where he could feel sticky blood drying. 

“Tony?” His hoarse voice was barely recognisable. 

He received no reply in the semi darkness around him. 

“Peter? Tony!”

Nothing. 

He moved his hands to blast the large block that had him trapped but stopped immediately when searing agony, as if he’d just dumped them into a pot of boiling oil, spread through his fingers. 

He tried to muffle his scream as best he could, biting into the torn and dusty fabric of his robe covered arm. 

When the pain was manageable, he pressed his arms to the rock instead and tried to shift it off him that way, but he wasn’t strong enough.  
Managing only to cover himself in more dust and hurt his leg further. 

He had to get out.  
He had to find them.  
His nightmare was not going to come true.

“Tony!” He cried desperately, the name echoing around him. 

Where was he?  
Why wasn’t he answering?

He tried pushing the rock again, fuelled by his determination to find his love. 

Then it unexpectedly began to move. 

He was doing it!

He pushed at it again when it was lifted right off him and Peter, looking incredibly dusty but very proud of himself, pushed it away as if it weighed nothing. 

“Drad!” Peter smiled, running into his arms. 

He held the boy as close as he could. 

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

The boy shook his head as he pulled away. 

Peter had been with Tony when he’d last seen them, so if the boy had survived, surely Tony would have too. 

“This is very important, Peter. Do you know where Tony is?”

Peter turned and pointed, “Dad.”

Stephen followed Peter’s little arm, his body shaking more than his hands when he didn’t see Tony, but large piles of debris all around him. 

Scratch marked walls flittered through his mind and he quickly pushed those thoughts away, standing up and stumbling a little as he put weight on his injured leg. 

He allowed Peter to lead him through the maze of different sized heaps, his focus slowly shifting up to look at the ruins of what remained of the castle above them. 

Peter’s little hand let go of his robes and Stephen stopped. 

Agamotto was lying half buried under rubble, her once vibrant green eyes now dull and lifeless.  
Beneath her lay Steve Rogers, crushed to death by the very creature he hated so much. 

“Drad.” Peter said, pointing at her. 

“Yeah. Drad.” Stephen grimaced as they moved on. 

He would get her body out of here and have her buried like the human she had wanted to remain as.  
She didn’t deserve to lay forgotten here. 

Not after all she had been through and all she had done for him. 

As they continued on their way, he heard movement from close by, followed by a rather deep cough. 

He followed it, hoping to see Tony waiting for him covered in dust very much like himself and Peter but alive and joking about them being miracle survivors.

It was a survivor alright, but one he didn’t know even a miracle could help with the unfortunate circumstances he was in. 

Mordo was sitting upright, his left arm a mess of bones and blood in his lap while a couple of his ribs jutted out of his blood soaked robes. 

Stephen took in his injuries.  
His old friend didn’t have much longer to live and, from that look on his face, he knew it. 

“Strange.” Mordo grinned, spitting blood on the floor at his feet, “How is it...no matter what battle you fight...you somehow manage to come out alive?”

“Not unscathed though.” Stephen replied as Peter hid behind him. 

Mordo chuckled, “But alive.”

Stephen’s eyes fell to the sling ring Mordo was still wearing. 

He could no longer do magic, and Peter was too young to be messing around with such things, and Tony might not have the energy to make one because he was most definitely alive somewhere in here and deserved to rest. 

That only left...

“I need you to make me a portal and I need that ring from you.”

“I could just make one for myself...”

Stephen shook his head, “If you planned on dying somewhere else you would have left by now. I think you’re choosing to stay here because you think you deserve it.”

Mordo’s laughter quickly turned to a series of coughs, the ribs hanging out of him shaking abnormally with each bout, “If I deserve this, you deserve much worse. Tell me why I should do...anything for you.”

“Because you owe me!” Stephen sneered, “And If not me, you owe Tony for standing by and doing nothing, and all the other innocents you dragged into this! Besides, how is it that you can forgive Rogers for all the blood on his hands, but not forgive me for the exact same thing?”

Mordo didn’t like having his own words thrown back in his face, but did as Stephen asked, a golden portal swirling before them that lead to a warm castle hallway Stephen hadn’t seen in so long. 

“You’ll always be a monster, Strange.” Mordo wheezed as he held up not only the sling ring to him, but also his wedding ring. 

Stephen held out his shaking hand and Mordo dropped them into his palm, his eyes unfocused as blood dribbled down his chin. 

“Always.”

Mordo took another breath, and went still, his body slumping back. 

Stephen pocketed the sling ring first before ultimately doing the same to his wedding ring.  
His hands were shaking too much to put it back on his finger where it belonged. 

It was the sound of little feet running away that made him remember Peter. 

“Dad!” He heard his little voice call out. 

Tony. 

More and more pieces from the broken castle above were coming loose and falling around them as he gave chase after the boy. 

Get Tony, get out, get Tony, get out, he kept repeating to himself, making a mental note of the turns he had taken to get back to the portal waiting to take all three of them home. 

It wasn’t long when they finally stopped before three heavy blocks; the largest laying on top of the other much shorter two. 

Just like in his dream. 

Tony was under there.  
And Stephen couldn’t do anything to help him. 

Peter clambered up the side of one of the pieces so he could move the one atop it. 

Stephen wanted to help, he wanted to do something other than just stand there as Peter began trying to lift the debris, straining as his little body fought against the weight. 

“Peter...”

Peter ignored him in favour of trying again. 

It wouldn’t budge. 

Peter let go and looked down at his hands, then over at Stephen, sniffing as fat tears rolled down his dirty cheeks. 

He could almost be mistaken for Tony when he was that age. 

And if Stephen hadn’t been able to deny his prince anything back then, he wasn’t going to start now. 

“Don’t force yourself.” He spoke as calmly as could. 

Tony was depending on them. 

“Focus. Focus on your want to get Dad out of there.”

He hoped that had made sense to the boy. He didn’t know how to put it any more simple than that. 

Peter turned back to the stubborn block, wiping his eyes and nose on his sleeve. 

He took hold of the edge but didn’t lift it.  
He waited for a good ten seconds catching his breath before he even moved, his arms shaking as the piece budged slightly. 

He kept trying, making strained noises as little by little, the massive chunk began to rise. 

First up to his ankles.  
Then to his knees. 

The poor kid was sweating when it was half way up his body, and the strain was taking its toll on him. 

Slowly, it began to lower again. 

Peter strained even more, managing to keep it from going any further, but it wouldn’t lift any higher either. 

Frustrated and exhausted, Peter’s arms finally pushed the massive piece right above his head. 

Stephen was in awe of the small child as he finally tossed it to the side and looked over to him. 

“Dad.” He panted. 

Fear gripped him. 

Stephen didn’t want to, but his legs moved him toward his nightmare of their own accord, slowly bringing him closer and closer until he couldn’t bear it anymore and shut his eyes. 

He didn’t want to look.  
He didn’t want to see. 

What if his nightmare came true?

Kicking the side of one of the slabs was what brought him to a halt, but he still didn’t open his eyes. 

He wanted to scrunch his fists for some form of support, but could barley make a fist anymore. 

Instead, a slight tugging on his robes made him look down at Peter, taking a deep breath before sliding to what he’d never been shown. 

Tony was nestled on his side between the two pieces and covered in dust, his armour dented and bent out of shape, covering random parts of his body as it seemed to have taken the brunt of most of the damage from his fall with what little was left of it. 

And his body was resting on something red. 

Stephen blinked. 

It was his cloak. 

By some miracle it had caught him. 

He had believed for so long the red in his dream had been blood, but if it was his cloak...

“Tony?” Stephen asked gently. 

“Stephen?” Came Tony’s hoarse reply as he coughed the dust from his lungs, his eyes only managing to remain half open as they looked up at him. 

Relief flooded his body, knocking out what little strength he had left in his knees as he fell beside him. 

“I think we’re too old to be going on grand adventures.”

Stephen chuckled lightly as Tony smiled up at him, his eyes instantly locking onto Stephen’s hands which he had clasped against his chest. 

“Your hands...”  
“It’s nothing.” Stephen lied quickly with a reasuring smile, trying to press them tighter to his chest to hide their continuous shaking. 

“Peter?” Tony raised his head weakly, trying to locate him. 

“He’s here. He’s safe.” Stephen soothed. 

Tony’s head flopped back down as he sighed in relief, “I’m gonna...pass out now...” 

Stephen smiled as Tony closed his eyes, comforted by his chest rising and falling. 

By that blue light still in his chest. 

~.~

Very little happened after that. 

Jarvis and a few guards found them after gods know how long, the servant taking Peter in his arms while Tony was lifted gently up between the guards, leaving Stephen to follow them out of what remained of Azule castle. 

Peter had dozed off by the time they reached those familiar walls and as he watched the child get taken one way and Tony was carried another, Stephen was suddenly surrounded by concerned faces that just seemed to blur into one another, asking him all sorts of questions he didn’t care to listen to or answer. 

It wasn’t until one of them shrieked about his hands that he had to get out of there. 

He got to their bedroom as the guards were leaving it, one of them opening the door for him on instinct. 

But instead of feeling thankful, Stephen felt...hollow. 

This simple gesture which he had come to expect from the guards and servants, now felt like it was made out of pity, like people now had to open doors for him, regardless of his title. 

He didn’t undress.  
He couldn’t.  
His hands were shaking too much, and there was still the pain which seemed to flare as soon as he tried to move his fingers at all. 

Too tired to sleep and still somewhat confused as to how they had made it out alive, he sat down on the bed beside Tony, watching him sleep. 

It reminded him of how he used to stay awake during the nights of their youth, protecting him from whatever horrors the night held. 

Holding him. 

Stephen realised his hands were moving toward Tony before he stopped himself. 

He couldn’t do that anymore either. 

Touching him, caressing his skin or brushing the loose strand of hair which had fallen across his forehead, were all simple things he had taken for granted that showed Tony just how much he loved him. 

Now he was out of reach in more ways than Stephen ever thought possible, and Tony deserved someone who could do all those things without the threat of pain staying their hand. 

If he still could, Stephen wouldn’t even be considering this, but he knew Tony would only find that someone if he wasn’t around anymore. 

He wanted to explain that to him and if he could still hold a quill he would have written it all down in a letter, but this way was better for both of them. 

He could leave without any arguments and Tony and Peter could get on with their lives. 

He stood from the bed, placed his wedding ring from his pocket onto his bedside table, leaned down and kissed Tony’s forehead. 

“Goodbye, Tony.”

He’d live the rest of his mortal life alone, he wouldn’t love anyone else, but that didn’t mean he should keep Tony from finding another. 

When he pulled away, Stephen froze. 

Tony was awake and glaring up at him, his hand clenched in his robes to stop him from leaving. 

“Where are you going, Stephen?”

Stephen shook his head, “You don’t need me anymore.”

Tony’s glare darkened, “Don’t I?”

“I can’t protect you, I can’t use magic anymore-“

“You think I kept you around because of that?”

He had to be strong.  
He was doing this for Tony.  
In time he would see that. 

“I’m useless to you now.”

“Is that what you think? That just because your hands don’t work like they used to that you’re useless?”

“Im not a Dragon anymore, I can’t do magic anymore, what else are you going to take from me?!”

Tony stared at him. 

Stephen looked away, his whole body shaking now. 

Why couldn’t Tony just let him do this for him?  
He didn’t need Stephen weighing him down. 

But Tony still didn’t let him go. 

He’ll leave...He’ll leave...

Steve’s last words to him were ringing in his head. 

He’ll leave...He’ll leave...

Stephen wanted to leave.

“Is it me? Am I the reason you want to leave?”

Stephen was taken aback, “What? No of course not!”

Tony wouldn’t look at him. 

“Is it because I kissed him? Because I let him...Is that why you don’t-“  
“That has nothing to do with it. I promise you.”

“I don’t care what state your hands are in.” Tony whispered, “Or if you can or can’t do magic, or if you were once a Dragon. None of that matters because I love you for you. Because you’re all that matters, okay? You’re all that matters to me. Please tell me that that’s enough for you.” 

Tony finally turned those beautiful sparkling brown eyes on him, “That I’m enough for you, Stephen, please.”

Stephen wanted to hold Tony close, but he couldn’t. 

He wanted to wipe those tears from his eyes, but he couldn’t. 

He reached for him anyway, pain be damned, and gently rested his scarred hand on Tony’s cheek, the tear that had been sliding its way down the soft skin stopping its progress. 

“You are enough for me, Tony.”

And he meant every word. 

Tony threw himself forward, their lips finding each other easily, his hands pulling Stephen’s robes open effortlessly after years of practice, taking extra care when pulling his hands from his sleeves. 

Stephen was at Tony’s mercy, giving himself in to each and every touch and pull, soon finding himself with a lap full of Tony as he discarded his shirt, bathing the both of them in blue light. 

Stephen carefully ran a shaking hand down Tony’s back, his fingers stinging and burning. 

He tried to wrap his hands around him, to hold like he always did, but it was too painful. 

“I can’t even hold you properly.” 

“No.” came Tony’s gentle voice in his ear, “You’ve never held me so strongly.” 

He felt Tony wrap one of his own arms around the back of his neck, “And I can still hold you.”

Tony kissed him again, rolling his hips against Stephen’s. 

Stephen was almost lost in his passionately numbed mind when Tony shifted and made a small noise. 

Pain.  
Tony was in pain. 

Stephen’s eyes opened, quickly registering what it was Tony was doing. 

Stephen pulled his eyes away from the breath taking sight of Tony’s face to focus on his chest.  
He ran his tongue over a nipple before sucking on it, making Tony cry out and his body arch into him. 

He bit lightly at the hardened nub, giving just as much attention to the other, Tony’s whispers and moans of his name confirmation that he wasn’t thinking about the pain anymore. 

He stopped when he felt Tony lifting his hips and wrapping a hand around his hard cock. 

It was as that heat slowly surrounded him when Tony lowered back down,  
Stephen very nearly grabbed Tony’s hips, wanting to touch so badly. 

He nuzzled into another kiss, focusing on that delicious mouth so he didn’t start anything before Tony was ready, or grab somewhere he shouldn’t. 

Tony leaned his head against his shoulder, clinging to him while he began to push up and down on his knees.  
He tried to stifle his moans by pressing his mouth into it, that plan falling apart rather quickly when Stephen began thrusting up into him on every drop of his hips. 

Tony pulled away and their eyes met.  
He pressed down on him harder, a deep growl escaping Stephen. 

And then Tony stopped. 

Shit.  
Stephen should have prevented this from happening in the first place if he wasn’t ready. 

But that didn’t seem to be the reason. 

Tony was gently running his thumbs over his cheeks, his eyes calmly observing every feature of his face, despite their blown pupils. 

“I love you.” 

Stephen blinked, “And I love you a thousand times more.”

Tony leaned in and kissed him, Stephen more than ready to duel with Tony’s tongue again and get things going before he lost his mind while he was buried in that intoxicating heat, but the kiss remained chaste, just like their first some hours ago. 

Tony’s hands ran up into his hair when he began moving again, slowly and lovingly, dragging his hips up and tightening around Stephen in the best torture possible. 

Stephen rested his head on Tony’s chest, trying to breathe while his lower half rocked up gently. 

He wanted to stay like this forever.  
With Tony forever. 

He pressed his arms into Tony’s back, Tony knowing what he wanted and leaning into his body more, the blue skin of his chest rubbing against Stephen’s, his name dropping from those soft lips. 

Tony’s fingernails dug into him and he looked up at his love once more. 

The movement caused their foreheads to bump against one another, only this time they weren’t savouring their last possible moments together. 

“Stephen?” Tony panted, his face flushed and body shaking. 

He pressed his hips up eagerly, making Tony cry out. 

They were celebrating all the time they would have with one another, and Stephen was going to make sure they enjoyed every moment of it. 

“Stephen!” Tony groaned, the scratch marks he was leaving on Stephen’s back red and dotted with blood. 

“I’m here, Tony.” He whispered back, “Always.”

Tony shuddered in his arms, everything around him becoming tighter, digging in deeper, refusing to let him go as Tony reached his limit and dragged Stephen’s out with him, both of them falling into the bed as they caught their breath. 

~.~

Tony had rolled off onto Stephen’s side of the bed, half covered in blankets and sheets with his head resting on his chest. 

Stephen had been silent for some time, looking at his wedding ring held by his shaking thumb and forefinger while his mind raced with what he had said to Tony and how he had almost broken his most important promise to him. 

“Don’t leave...”

Stephen closed his eyes. 

“I’m not going-“  
“Don’t leave me again.”

He could see Tony before him, shoulders shaking, one hand clenching at his side, ready to pull away at a moment’s notice to keep it from getting grabbed too tightly, brown eyes swimming with tears and a slight glow from his own blue reflected in those depths due to his fire reacting to what Tony had told him about Rogers’ stay so long ago. 

He could feel Tony’s other hand slipping from his own once steady one and tightened his grip on it. 

“Tony. I’m right here I’m not going anywhere. Ever again.”

Stephen opened his eyes. 

He would keep that promise.  
And he would make a new one. 

“I promise you I will never let my weakness take control of me like that again.”

Tony looked up at him from his resting place against chest, “Does that mean you’re not leaving?”

“It does.”

Tony saw the wedding ring Stephen was playing with and took it, looking down at it, “Then perhaps you can help me find the owner of this rather remarkable ring?”

Tony’s eyes were soft, his smile gentle, “You might have seen him. Tall, handsome, wears a dress.”

Stephen chuckled, his heart in his throat when Tony took his hand and slipped the ring slowly back onto his shaking finger. 

Stephen looked down at it and at Tony’s matching, kissing his forehead and feeling Tony’s hand rest gently on his own. 

Maybe his hands would never be the same again, but he was sure after some time he’d be able to get a small amount of functionality back in them.  
It could take months or maybe even years, but if Tony remained by his side he’d get through it. 

He had hope now. 

Tony suddenly sat up, his eyes wide and Stephen knew that look. 

Tony was up to something. 

“You know what this means right?”

He was almost afraid to ask. 

“No. What?”

Tony grinned at him, “It means I can call you my Queen and say you wear a dress without the threat of a portal flying at my face!”

Stephen smiled as they kissed once more. 

He’d have to think of something else to threaten him with 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who kudosed this story and wrote me comments.  
> Knowing you guys like my work and took the time to tell me really helped me power through and get this story done for you!
> 
> The next chapter is seperate to this story, I was thinking about how these two idiots are basically soulmates and wanted to write a short piece set in the future with these characters. 
> 
> Oh and a new character!  
> Good old Cloaky will be sentient this time around, so if that is something you’d like to read, stay tuned for that. 
> 
> Thank you all so much once again and I hope you all stay safe and have a wonderful Christmas!


	8. Echoes of Dragonfire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set in modern times, let’s throw a sentient cloak into the mix

It didn’t know how it had come into existence.   
One moment there was nothing and the next it could feel something warm pulling at it. 

Later on it would realise that it was one of the humans it would later protect with the life they had given it, but during that moment, as it felt itself being shaped into its current wearable form, all it knew was confusion. 

Not only at it’s sudden existence, but at the world around it. 

There was nothing but a strange vibration coming from the young man before it. 

There was no colour to it or sound, just a rhythmic heartbeat with a flicker to it that was unlike any other it would come across over the years. 

This was Tony, a Human. 

And then there was the other heartbeat. 

The heartbeat of the Crystal Dragon, Stephen. 

His was a thrumming chord; low and constant with an air of danger to it should anyone cross its path. 

Stephen was who Tony had created it for, and the day Tony decided to give Stephen his present was when the cloak felt something unexpected. 

The two heartbeats, for how different they were, harmonised with one another. 

The cloak remembered being worn and removed and worn again, it remembered how it had held them both within its warmth on cold nights and had felt them sleep in each other’s arms. 

And it remembered that, one day, it could no longer sense either of them. 

Years passed, and the cloak could finally move around on its own.   
It wanted to show them, but they were no longer here. 

One time it felt someone approach and reach for it, but the cloak refused the stranger and was left alone once more.   
It wanted to tell them, but they were no longer here. 

The nights were cold and lonely, the days long and boring, the only thing it could do to pass the time was pace in its glass box, unable to escape.   
It wanted to find them, but they were no longer here. 

Years turned into centuries and the world became a more dangerous and confusing place, and still, a red cloak waited for the one it had been made for and the one who had made it. 

It remembered.   
And it waited. 

And then, during an unknown age in an unknown place, the cloak felt a familiar low thrum coming closer to it. 

It was Stephen. 

The cloak remembered them, but it felt no recognition from them in turn. 

It quickly made itself comfortable on his shoulders, feeling complete for the first time in the forever it had been alone. 

The cloak could tell Stephen was impressed with it, deciding to allow it to roam its new home freely without any concern instead of locking it away. 

But it could also tell just how lonely the Dragon was.   
That same aching loneliness it itself had experienced was prominent in the low thrum, sounding quite hollow without its other half. 

So the cloak began to hang by the windows, listening to the hundreds of thousands of vibrations around it and trying to pick out that one particular heartbeat it knew so well through all of the others. 

Wong, of course, picked up on this sudden behaviour. 

“Strange, take that thing for a walk, it could use some airing out.”

“If it wants to go outside all it has to do is leave through the door, it knows how to open them.” Stephen replied, turning the page of his book. 

Wong raised an eyebrow at him, “The people we protect have remained protected because we don’t let relics like the Cloak of Levitation out by itself. Obviously, It is not the only one who needs airing out.”

Stephen shot him a look from over his book. 

Wong simply stared at him until Stephen shut his book with a sigh and left the Sanctum, the cloak quickly following him. 

~.~

Day after day the cloak searched, its hopes at finding the Dragon’s mate growing smaller and smaller with every failure. 

As the days grew hotter, Stephen changed their walking path to a park where shade was plentiful and he didn’t feel like he was dying under the cloak’s heavy warmth.

He couldn’t explain the attachment he felt to the cloak as it hugged his shoulders, no matter how many times Wong asked him why he wore it everywhere. 

It was more than because it had chosen him.   
It was more than using its properties of flight or it literally having his back in close combat. 

It was beautiful, and whomever had made it had poured their heart and soul into it.   
And the coincidence that whomever it had been made for had had his exact height and build wasn’t freaky in the slightest. 

It was as they were just exiting the park, Stephen felt himself get pulled back by said cloak. 

“What?” He asked it, scanning around him for a possible threat. 

The cloak didn’t move. 

He was here.   
Tony was here somewhere, the cloak could sense him.   
But where?

Stephen tried walking off again but once more the cloak refused to let him go. 

They were heading in the right direction.   
Somewhere a little more north-east of their position. 

As Stephen tried once more to take a step, the cloak suddenly pushed him forward, throwing him in front of oncoming traffic. 

He tried to use his sling ring before he was killed, but the cloak was having none of it, continuously steering him to where it wanted to take him, pushing past other vibrations as the single one it had waited for all this time came closer and closer, reaching out and finally grabbing it. 

Stephen stared. 

And Tony Stark stared back. 

There was something...familiar about his eyes.   
The way his gaze held his own. 

Had they met before and Stephen just didn’t remember?

No, that couldn’t be it, Stephen remembered everything and everyone.   
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen those eyes somewhere before. 

But that wasn’t the only reason he was staring. 

As soon as their eyes had locked, Stephen had felt a warmth in his heart that was slowly creeping up to his face. 

And somehow he knew the man before him felt it too. 

“Can I help you?” Tony asked, having little else to say to the random guy with a red cape on which was what had grabbed his shoulder.

Before Stephen could say anything, the cloak had detached itself from his shoulders and flew around Stark, rubbing its collar against his face like an overly affectionate cat. 

To Stephen’s surprise, Stark immediately warmed up to it, running his fingers over the velvet as it swirled around him, which was gaining a lot of attention from the crowd that was forming. 

“Is that your pet?” Stark asked him as the cloak floated back down onto Stephen’s shoulders, people clapping at the theatrics before Tony turned his attention to them and managed to dispel them with some fabricated nonsense or other. 

He didn’t notice it when he turned back to him, and if he did he didn’t say, but Stephen’s face was a little more red than it had been before. 

The way Stark was looking at him with a half way grin and those damn eyes was making him think that they had some history together. 

And that thought felt right but his memory was once again drawing a blank. 

Stephen wanted to get out of there, sneak away quick and quiet, but the cloak refused to let him move unless it was closer to the Avenger it had brought him to. 

“So, you’re a wizard then?”

Stephen tried to focus as the cloak pushed him a little more into the small space between him and Tony Stark.   
Of course he would think he was a wizard.   
He probably thought of his robes as a dress too. 

“Sorcerer.”  
“And you always wear a dress?”

Stephen’s mind instantly began to unravel.   
Either Stark could read his mind, or he’d heard him say that before because Stephen felt like he was experiencing déjà vu. 

Everything about Tony Stark felt like déjà vu. 

“No, just as this,” Stephen indicated to the time stone around his neck, “isn’t a necklace.”

And just like that, they were back to staring at one another, Tony’s mouth closing as a weird expression crossed his features. 

Maybe Stephen was still reeling from the cloak apparently knowing the one and only Tony Stark, despite being encased in glass for hundreds of years. 

Maybe he was still trying to figure why he’d plucked the word ‘necklace’ from thin air when he could have used countless other synonyms for it. 

Or maybe he was finally going crazy. 

Whatever the reason, Stephen felt like the very sight of Tony had lit a fire in his chest. 

What the hell was happening to him?

The cloak apparently felt it too and eagerly began pressing into his back, no matter how much he tried to ground himself without Stark noticing. 

“Did you want to join the Avengers? Is that why Cloaky there got my attention?”

He felt himself slide a little closer, the collar of the cloak dancing against his neck at the nickname. 

He didn’t have an answer.   
Not for joining the Avengers, not for why he felt this way about a man he didn’t know and not for why his cloak all of sudden tried to kill him in its mission to meet said man he didn’t know. 

Stephen just shook his head, finally managing to string a few words together, “No, it’s not like that.”

Stark seemed a little disappointed with that response.   
“Well-

Whatever Tony had been about to say was dropped when Steve Rogers exited the coffee shop they had been standing in front of, holding a polystyrene cup identical to the one Stephen was just noticing Tony was holding.

“Oh. Hello. Friend of yours, Tony?”

“Uh, kinda. Never got your name, mr. Wizard.”

“Doctor Stephen Strange.” 

He didn’t like how close Rogers was standing to Tony, who seemed to be trying to inch away ever so slightly. 

The cloak didn’t like it either. 

Both Avengers watched as it flared out, almost taking on the form of a pair of draconic wings. 

Tony was stepping forward, despite Steve trying to pull him back, and the cloak floated back down again. 

“Well, if you change your mind doc, feel free to call me anytime.”

From his pocket he drew a black card with, for no reason other than to inflate his own ego, an etching of his Iron Man armour. 

Then he winked at him, which did not make Stephen’s face any more red than what it already was not at all, and turned and began walking away with Rogers at his side. 

The cloak fought violently against Stephen as it tried to grab hold of Stark again, Stephen just managing to wrestle it through a portal back to the Sanctum and crashing them both into a large bookcase. 

Wong emerged immediately, ready for a fight at the tremendous noise it made as it toppled over, the cloak flying out of the room and past him as Strange picked himself up amidst the old texts. 

“I’m not cleaning that up.” 

Stephen just glared at him as he left once more. 

~.~

Stephen stopped taking walks, stopped going after the cloak whenever it escaped to look for Stark again, and just sat at the table in the library thinking and staring at the card with Tony Stark’s phone number on it. 

His heart would give a little jolt whenever the thought of owning said phone number crossed his mind and made him feel nauseous when he thought about calling it. 

But why?

Stephen didn’t believe in soul mates or love at first sight or any of that kiddy crap, but the more and more he tried to dissect the feeling, that’s all his mind could supply him with. 

And what if Stark was feeling the same way about him?

That thought alone sent more happiness rippling through him than he’d care to admit, but was it right?

It was his job to prevent magical going-ons from happening after all, and this was definitely something magical that he couldn’t let go on, no matter how much he wanted it to. 

He had to stop whatever was happening so they could both go back to normal.   
Or at least as close to normal as their abnormal lives could get. 

“Have I ever mentioned Tony Stark to you?”

“No. Should you have?” Wong asked from behind him. 

Stephen tapped the card against the table, thinking of how to respond. 

On one hand there might be a mystical mystery as to why the cloak thought it knew Stark, and why he thought he knew him too. 

But on the other Wong might think he’d finally lost the plot. 

“Does this have anything to do with the fight you’ve got yourself into with the Cloak of Levitation?”

“It knew him.”  
“Stark?”

Stephen nodded, “It acted like it knew him. Like it was overjoyed to find him.”  
“And you felt the same way?”

Stephen stopped tapping the card. 

Wong took his silence as a yes. 

“We call them Echoes. You feel a familiarity to certain objects you used to own in a previous life, or a person you had a strong connection...”

Stephen stopped listening after that. 

He and Tony had known each other in a previous life.   
Had...had been in love in a previous life...  
And that god damn cloak was trying to play matchmaker to bring them together again?!

He jumped to his feet and stormed out of the library, fixing on the cloak hovering above the stairs like it had been waiting for him. 

His foot had just landed on the bottom step when it flew over his head and out the front door. 

“Get back here!” Stephen yelled, throwing the door open and almost colliding into Tony Stark, who was standing with his hand raised to knock and the bloody thing sitting rather comfortably around him. 

And his anger and frustration melted away at the sight of him. 

“Bad time?” Tony asked. 

“No! No, please.” Stephen gestured for him to come in and Tony did so, glaring at the cloak gripping him a little tighter in case Stephen got any ideas about removing it. 

“This place is like a museum.”  
“We do keep old relics here. That cloak being one of them.”

Tony was absentmindedly stroking the high collar, “I’ll trade you one relic for another.”

Stephen laughed, “I have no use for Steve Rogers.”

Tony beamed at him, apparently delighted that he hadn’t had to explain what he meant, shrugging as he said “Worth a try.” Before returning to his exploring. 

Stephen could hear Wong shuffling around the library, keeping to his own business whilst listening in on their conversation. 

“So, uh, what brings here?”  
“Cloaky.”  
“It’s not for sale, Stark, no matter how much-“  
“No, I mean it literally brought me here.”  
“Ah...I see.”

The cloak almost preened as it enjoyed Stark’s attention, rubbing it in his face that he couldn’t do anything to it with witnesses around. 

“I also wanted to ask you if you’ve thought about joining the Avengers.”  
“All business as usual, Stark?”

Tony shot him a grin before deciding he was done with his exploration of the Sanctum, walking in his direction now, “Not all the time. Just wanna make sure you’d be batting for our team if there comes a time to pull you off the bench.”

Stephen smiled, watching him step closer, wondering if the cloak was pushing him toward him. 

“I can assure you my loyalties lie with this dimension and all its inhabitants. That includes you...”

Stephen found himself swallowing thickly halfway through his sentence as Tony stopped before him, heart palpitating agaiant his ribs and shortening his breaths to quick intakes. 

“And the team.” He added carefully. 

“Well, if we ever need you to test those loyalties, sure would be nice to have a number to call and not rely on Cloaky to bring me to your doorstep every time. Not that I mind of course, would just be quicker.”

A piece of paper instantly appeared in his hand and as he presented it to Tony, their fingers brushed when he took it, his hand shaking more than usual when their eyes met once again.

It was in the best interest for both parties involved to keep in touch with one another should something arise, would be the explanation he’d give Wong later that evening, even though Wong wouldn’t buy a word of it. 

~.~

This had been a mistake.   
The call for their assistance had been a mistake.   
The splitting off into smaller teams had been a mistake.   
His insistence of Tony coming with him had been a mistake.   
All of it. 

But there was little else he could do. The Avengers were fighting the same thing he had been and his powers hadn’t been enough to kill it. 

He just wished he’d been able to before it had started dragging citizens down here to its lair. 

He and Tony were side by side, looking down at the den this creature had made and at the small crowd of people standing there waiting to be feasted on. 

“So what do we do?” Tony asked, his eyes shifting around looking for alternate escape routes, the only light between them coming from that in the center of his armour. 

Stephen sighed with a shake of his head.   
They couldn’t save those people. They were mere husks of what they used to be, only human in appearance with whomever they had been before gone forever. 

Telling Tony this however only sparked anger. 

“So what, we’re just going to leave them?”  
“Well what do you want me to do?!”  
“Well you brought me here to be your distraction right?”  
“What?”

Tony’s suit made a high pitched whirring, “Let me go in there and maybe you can get some of them-“

Stephen quickly grabbed him before he could take off, “Contrary to what you may think, I did not bring you here to indulge your death wish!”

Those mesmerising brown eyes turned on him. 

“That’s not what this is!”  
“No?”  
“No! You knew I might not be coming back!”  
“I knew none of us might not be coming back! But I’m not going to let you get killed for nothing!”  
“Not except for those people in there!”  
“They’re already dead!”  
“Not all of them, Stephen!”  
“I AM NOT LOSING YOU AS WELL!”

The anger died instantly and a beautiful blush rose in Tony’s cheeks. 

Stephen wanted nothing more than to rip the Iron Man suit off of him to see just how far down it went. 

The cloak suddenly flew over their heads, throwing Stephen into Tony as they both fell to the rocky ground. 

They quickly realised what position they were both in. 

Tony’s hands had grabbed Stephen’s arms in a bid to catch him when they’d fallen, and were still resting there.   
Their warm breath was making it stuffy and the only light in their small world was from his suit which was slowly dimming the closer he drew to Stephen’s other worldly eyes, almost glowing in the blue light between them as if made of fire. 

Then their ear piece crackled to life and the moment was ruined. 

Stephen sighed as he threw the cloak off of them. 

This had been a mistake. 

~.~

Tony winced slightly as Stephen’s magic threaded his skin back together. 

The cloak was floating around the room almost like it was pacing, and Stephen was glad it had decided not to put them into any more uncomfortable situations. 

Mostly because he was in one right now without the sentient cloth making it worse. 

Stephen had insisted he clean up Tony’s injuries, only to be told he needed to get back to his lab and it could wait. 

Of course, Tony had been bleeding profusely while he’d been saying this, so Stephen had compromised. 

He would patch him up in this lab of his.

He hadn’t gotten an argument out of him for once, so he helped him through the portal and into a roller chair, telling the cloak to leave them be so he could concentrate. 

And then Tony was trying to take off his shirt and Stephen almost became light headed from how quickly his blood rushed down to his groin. 

He helped him as best he could with shaking and sweating hands, his eyes falling to the overabundance of scars littering his chest, catching on a peculiar circular one. 

“What did this?” Stephen asked, tracing a finger around the scar and making Tony’s face go an instant shade of Iron Man Red

“A magnet to keep shrapnel out of my heart.”

“You’re very lucky.”  
Tony shrugged, “That’s what people tell me.”

Stephen’s fingers glided up to Tony’s neck to touch at the shotty stitches sewn there, “And this?”

“Avengers business.”  
“Is that so?”  
“Yeah. Gotta be an Avenger to know.”

Stephen huffed a laugh at Tony’s spreading smile, “Is this your way of getting me to join your little band of heroes?”  
“I dunno, is it working?” Tony grinned back. 

Stephen handed him his shirt, watching all those scars become hidden by the flimsy cloth as Tony stood up. 

“Thanks doc.”  
“You are welcome.”

The cloak nudged at Tony’s hand and almost went limp when he began scratching it under the collar. 

“We made a pretty good team today. Even if you want be a consultant in case we run into anything magical again would be a great help.”

“Would being a consultant get you to tell me what happened to you?”  
“Why, Doctor Strange, I never knew you cared so much about me.”

“In more ways than you know.” Stephen muttered under his breath. 

Stephen’s mouth snapped close. 

He hadn’t meant to say that.  
And he definitely hadn’t meant for Stark to hear him. 

But both had happened and now they were standing in a rather uncomfortable silence. 

Why would he say that when it wasn’t true?

But it was true.  
Echo or not, it was true.

Stephen wet his lips, Tony’s eyes catching the movement before looking back up at him. 

He wanted to say something to fill the silence, but couldn’t get his heart out of his throat. 

He cleared it, opened his mouth, and had every intention of saying anything other than what spilled out. 

“I love you.”

The look on Tony’s face wasn’t relief or happiness, it wasn’t shock or horror, or even anger. 

It was fear. 

Stephen hadn’t expected that. 

“I...I’m sorry that was-“  
“A bit abrupt?”  
“A bit, yes...but it is the truth.”  
“And what do you expect me to say in return?”

The fear was gone, replaced by a closed expression. 

“I don’t know.” He admitted, “I just...I thought you felt the same.”

Tony didn’t answer, seeming to struggle to find the words he wanted to say. 

He just wanted to hear it. 

“You feel it too don’t you?”

“I don’t!” Tony yelled suddenly, “All I know is that whenever I look at you, whenever you’re near me...and I can’t explain it! Rogers thinks you’ve put a spell on me and I know that isn’t true! These are my feelings, my own feelings. And that scares me even more because I ruin everything!”

“Is that what you believe?”  
“Yes.”  
“For how long?”

The loneliness that shone through those eyes had Stephen reaching for him. 

As he did so, Tony’s name a whisper on his lips, the door opened. 

Stephen felt the cloak, which had slowly been inching up his sides towards Tony, let go of him and they both watched with disinterest as it flew at Rogers and dragged him out of the room again for ruining the moment. 

Tony blinked, “I should borrow Cloaky off you from time to time.”

“You can. I have to go.” Stephen said quickly, hastily making a portal back to the Sanctum before he could say anything else to scare Tony away from him. 

~.~

The cloak was more than happy to stay in its new home. 

Tony worked with the cloak on, ate with it on, sometimes even fell asleep with it wrapped around him like a cocoon and keeping vigil on his body heat so as not to over or under heat him, watching over him like Stephen used to do. 

And anyone with a vibration that interfered with Tony in a negative way was quickly dealt with. 

Which mostly involved Steve. 

It should have realised that if Tony and Stephen were back, that meant Rogers was too.   
It was a stupid mistake, one it would make up for by keeping the one who wanted to undo all its hard work far away from Tony as possible. 

Whenever he caught Tony’s eye, the cloak would flare out menacingly or wrap around Tony protectively. Sometimes it would fly off with Tony and a few times the cloak had raised its hem and curled its corners as if they were fists, daring Rogers to give it an excuse. 

Steve had no idea what he’d done to anger it, but it obviously held a grudge for some reason or other. 

Maybe while it was trying to play match maker, it had caught on that Steve had feelings for Tony as well. 

He needed to get that thing away from Tony, but try as he might, he could barely get a full syllable out before the cloak did all in its power to keep Tony from hearing the rest. 

~.~

Tony struggled out of another one of his dreams, angry with himself for falling asleep and angry at Strange for fucking him without any actual fucking. 

This had been going on ever since he’d met the guy.   
First he’d chalked it up to his pun-fully-intended strange meeting with him, then to his pun-fully-intended strange attraction, but every time he closed his eyes he’d dream about Stephen and that body he was hiding beneath all those belts.   
Sometimes he was above him, sometimes below him, sometimes he’d dream about sleeping beside him if that made any sense at all, and when he woke his chest would ache when he found himself alone. 

He didn’t want to sleep, couldn’t when he was having a mind blowing orgasm all thanks to a bloody dream that would wake him up at all hours of the night. 

He looked down at Cloaky, whom he’d been using as blanket, the collar shifting slowly in a lazy hello as if it too had been sleeping. 

Tony sighed as he coaxed it to lay back down again, running his hand comfortingly over it until he felt it relax and snuggle into him. 

He should really take it back to the Sorcerer and cut ties with him all together so he could get a decent night’s sleep. 

Tomorrow. 

He’ll take Cloaky back tomorrow. 

Tomorrow came and went and Tony couldn’t find Cloaky anywhere. 

Had it known his plan?  
Was that why it was hiding?

He tried calling out to it, tried looking in its usual haunts like the sofa where it liked to drape itself and the workbench where he’d accidentally picked it up with grease covered hands, mistaking it for a clean cloth on more than one occasion. 

But it was nowhere to be found. 

Maybe it had gone back to Strange by itself, that was always a possibility, only made more probable by no one having seen it around all day. 

Then came a knock at the door, Tony looking up to see Rogers standing there with the gym bag he always carried home with him. 

Tony must have looked disappointed because Rogers had that kicked puppy look on his face. 

“Bad time?”  
“Yes. No. What do you want?”  
“Just...checking in.”  
“Well you’ve done that so if you don’t mind-“  
“Why don’t you come around my place tonight?”

Tony folded his arms across his chest, “Why would I want to do that?”

“Because you look like you haven’t been eating or sleeping properly and I’ve missed you.”  
“Jesus Christ, Rogers, I don’t need this right now, ok?”  
“Tony, you need something in you!”  
“Oh I know what ‘something’ you’re referring to. You never were good at euphemisms.”  
“Probably because that wasn’t one.”

Tony didn’t move as he thought Rogers’ words over.   
Maybe he should, it had been a one time thing but if Rogers was offering...and it might help his body relax and stop with the dreams. 

“So...I’ll see you at seven?”

“Fine.” Tony agreed, turning away from him.   
It wasn’t like he had any other plans. 

The gym bag suddenly jolted and Steve tightened his grip on the strap before saying a quick goodbye and rushing out of there before Tony could take any notice. 

He had to get rid of this meddlesome thing somewhere. 

The bag jolted again, rather feebly than the first time.   
Those weights he’d put on top of it must be doing their job. 

There was no other option but to bring it back to his place, at least then he knew where it would be at all times. 

It wasn’t going to ruin tonight for him. 

~.~

Cloaky had managed to pull the zipper apart a little and poke its corner out, but by then the vibration of Tony was long gone, the only one it could sense now was Rogers. 

Once the zipper was broken completely and the bag was fully open, Cloaky tried to free itself from the weights resting on the knot it had been tied into, tossing itself around the small room until a small tear made it stopped. 

It was no use.   
The weights were far too heavy for it to pull free. 

But it had to get free.   
Rogers was planning something and Cloaky was not going to let him undo all its hard work. 

It reached around until it could barely feel the door.   
And the crack underneath it. 

It tried to pull itself forward, jerky movements only aiding in the rip becoming longer. 

It stopped.   
They were relying on it.   
Both of them were too stubborn to actually try to make what they had work.   
If it didn’t get free, this second chance they had been given would be wasted. 

And Cloaky has not waited hundreds of years for them to stumble at the finish line. 

Slowly, so as not to aggravate the slight rip, it tried to reach the door again, the bag it was still in sliding a tiny inch by tiny inch. 

It had moved a centimetre or two when it stopped again, feeling the pulsing vibration of that familiar heartbeat. 

Tony was here.   
Tony was here and Cloaky was still trapped. 

If it could get his attention, then they could both get out. 

It reached for the crack under the door and poked its collar through to as far as it could go, flapping wildly in hopes Tony would see it. 

It squirmed a little farther, ignoring the other tear it had created in itself as it finally popped through to the other side of the door. 

Still, Tony didn’t come any closer. 

They must be in another room.   
It would have to try something else. 

Wriggling back to its prison, the velvet on its back bunched up and halted the cloak’s progress.   
Flapping aimlessly, Cloaky realised it had become stuck. 

Now what was it going to do?

“I’ve got your favourite pizza on the way.” Steve smiled. 

“Not gonna cook for me?”  
“If I didn’t want you to eat, then I would have.”

Tony laughed before shaking his head, “That works for me, I’m not even hungry.”

“Ok.”  
“Oh. Just ‘Ok’? You’re not gonna shove food down my throat?”  
“No, no. I’d imagine you’ll eat when your hungry.”

Tony had a sparkle in his eye as he stepped closer to Steve, “And what would you cook when I am hungry?”

Steve wet his lips, his voice dropping to an almost whisper as they leaned in closer and closer, “Well, that all depends on what you’re hungry for.”

Steve was on him in an instant, Tony’s tongue meeting his half way, his hands in his hair. 

Steve pushed Tony around as he all but ripped his shirt off him, pressing him into the wall, one hand holding him there while the other snaked around his hips to grip the belt buckle., “I take it you’re hungry now?”

“Starving, in fact.” Tony gasped, Steve pressing his erection against his ass and drawing out a long moan from him before biting into his neck. 

“Don’t worry, Tony.” Steve whispered in his ear, the belt clicking open, “I’ll fill you up.”

This was not happening.   
Cloaky had not waited millennia just to have its plans dashed when it was so close to bringing Stephen and Tony together again. 

The cloak wrenched itself back, destroying the velvet collar completely and hitting the back wall of the closet, knocking something against the door as a great long rip almost tore it in half. 

Tony froze at the well timed noise, looking around the apartment for the source of it, “What was that?”

“Just the cat don’t worry-“  
“You have a cat?”  
“Neighbor’s cat.”  
“In your apartment?”  
“Sometimes it sneaks in, it will find its way back out-“

The cloak felt weakly around for anything it could use and came across something flat and hard. It was small and weighed practically nothing, but it was almost like trying to lift the weights which had been put on it. 

Cloaky crawled back to the door and repeatedly struck it against the door, watching the fading vibrations of the action ripple out to the heartbeat who’s curiosity it knew would win out. 

“Sounds like it’s wants attention.”  
“Don’t worry about it it’s just a stupid cat.”

Steve was trying to get things going again, but Tony was pushing away from him and fastening the belt back up. 

“I worry.”

The heartbeat was coming closer.   
It had to keep going.   
But it was also becoming more dim as the cloak tried to stay conscious. 

Tony followed the noise to a closet and when he opened the door, he was met with Stephen’s cloak, almost torn clean in half and still trying to knock a coin against the wooden door. 

Removing the weights were of little effort and Tony gingerly scooped up the cloak in his arms, not wanting to damage it anymore as it curled into him and shook. 

Then he rounded on Steve and his guilt ridden face, “That’s a very...Strange...looking cat, Rogers.”

“I can explain-“

“That would be interesting if I was interested in what you had to say.” Tony remarked, turning his back on Rogers and heading straight for the door.

“It was trying to sabotage our night, I just wanted it out of the way Tony please!”

He went to grab Tony’s shoulder to stop him from leaving but the cloak managed enough strength to flick up and knock his hand away. 

“I told you, Rogers.” Tony said with a cold look, exiting the apartment, “I’m not interested.”

And with that, he closed the door. 

~.~

“Strange?” Tony called out as he looked around the dark empty Sanctum.   
He hadn’t run all the way here with a cloak he didn’t know could die or not, just for him to have gone off on one of his mystical adventures. 

He’d just spied a blue light on the second floor and was about to dash up there when Stephen appeared, looking rather thin without the cloak on him. 

“Tony! What’s wro....why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

Tony’s heart clenched.   
He’d just come to return the wizard’s cloak.  
He’d be here five minutes, maybe less, and then he’d leave. 

They’d never have to see each other again. 

“It’s Cloaky. Can you fix him?” Tony asked, holding the ruined cloth out to the wizard. 

Stephen was by his side in an instant, but he didn’t seem interested at all in the cloak lying limp in Tony’s arms.

“You didn’t answer my question.”  
“That’s not what’s important right now.”

Their eyes met. 

“You don’t consider yourself important?”  
“Not right now, no.”  
“Is the fact that you’re shirtless of little importance right now too?”  
“Can we focus on Cloaky here?”  
“Will I get an answer if I do?”

Stephen had no right to feel jealous, they were just friends and that’s how Tony wanted them to stay, but that didn’t make his feelings go away. 

Tony just held the cloak out to him again and he knew his stubbornness would have them here all night going in circles until he relented, so he opened the amulet around his neck. 

The magic, which was usually orange, rotated around Stephen’s wrists, now a vibrant green. 

They watched as the rips and tears sewed themselves up again, the cloak wrapping itself around Tony’s chest and neck when it was fully restored, rubbing affectionately against his face. 

Tony smiled, patting it one last time before it left him to sit over its master’s shoulders. 

“So. Are you going to answer me now?”  
“And why should I?”  
“Were you with Rogers?”  
“I don’t think that’s any of your concern.”  
“So that’s a yes then.”

Tony glared at him, turned on his heel and walked to the door. 

As he did so, he stepped right through a portal that lead to the top floor of the Sanctum. 

Stephen followed him and shoved him backwards into a glass case housing a small flutter of glowing blue butterflies, cracking it. 

“What the hell are you doing?!”  
“Tell me!”  
“Why?!”

Tony fought him off and Stephen shoved him again, the glass vanishing on the second hit and allowing the butterflies to stream out, flying around them and landing softly on walls and cabinets. 

“BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW!”

Stephen leant in closer to him, his shaky breath tickling Tony’s ear, “I want to know if you would sound exactly the way you do in my dreams.”

Tony froze at the mention as those hands skimmed down his body and rested on his hips, “I want to know what he does that makes you feel good, makes you scream, makes you fall apart.”

The surge of lust that pulsed through Tony’s body was like an ache, an actual pain of longing.   
He let out a shaky breath and clutched onto Stephen’s robes, looking up at him and trying to resist becoming lost in those blue eyes, “Stephen...”

Stephen brought up a hand to stroke Tony’s cheek softly, “Please, Tony.”

The thumb glided over his bottom lip, and the brilliant blue of Stephen’s eyes darkened with desire as it lowered to his chin and angled his head. 

It took Tony a second longer than it should have to realise what Stephen was doing and he quickly turned his face away out of the light grip, Stephen's lips brushing his cheek. 

"I uh...I should get going."  
"Tony..."

The rest of his argument was cut short as Tony stepped away and he was pulled along with him, both looking down at the cloak wrapped around them and refusing to let go. 

“Cloaky. Now is not the time.” 

Stephen looked from the stubborn cloth to the stubborn man wrapped up in it with him, their bodies almost flush against one another. 

Tony wasn’t looking at him. 

“Tony?”  
“Can you call off your guard cloak, please? I want to go home.”  
“It’s not that simple.”  
“Nothing ever is.”

Silence fell around them and Tony shook his head, “I didn’t mean to send you mixed signals.”

“No, no, it wasn’t that...you just...I just...I’m sorry.”

Tony looked up at him then. 

“I’ve never met anyone like you who makes me feel this way. These feelings that I have it’s like...like...”

An echo. 

Was that all this was?   
A strong feeling from a previous life that had somehow stayed with him?

It couldn’t be.   
It felt far stronger than before. 

Tony’s smile returned, “Its the same for you too, you know. I’ve never met anyone like you either.”

The cloak still refused to let them go. 

Tony sighed and Stephen thought they’d go right back to standing in silence all night long when he heard a small sniff as a tear dropped onto his robes.   
Stephen slowly lifted Tony’s face until he was looking at him. 

"Why?" Tony asked, "Why would you want someone as broken as me?"

Stephen smiled as he wiped away Tony's tears, "Because I'm broken too." He said softly, his hand resting against Tony's face, "And maybe we can fix one another."

Tony was speechless, afraid one sound would stop whatever was happening from progressing to its intended destination as Stephen leaned in a little closer and touched his lips to those he'd been wanting to kiss for so long. 

Tony was shaking slightly, but he wasn't trying to pull away from him like before.   
Stephen kissed him again, pressing a little harder and swiping his tongue into Tony's mouth. 

And finally, the vibrations of the Human and the Dragon harmonised into a single beat. 

Just like they had done so many countless years ago. 

That was when Tony began kissing him back, his breath hitching as he pushed into the leg Stephen had between his own. 

He pressed closer against his body, shivering as a scarred hand slid against their warm velvet cocoon to glide down his back while the other kept a light hold on his cheek, his own hands pulling the robes open to skim over light muscle and thread through the dark and grey strands of Stephen’s hair. 

Stephen took a step and as Tony stepped back, he misjudged how tightly the cloak was wrapped around the back of his legs and he fell, the cloth catching him half way down. 

They stared at one another, a smile on their swollen lips as the lights from the butterflies around them highlighted dark irises and pale skin. 

Then Tony was being lowered to the wooden floorboards, only realising as such when he felt them through the cloak he was laying on. 

He pulled Stephen back to him, his belt buckle loosening around his hips while he shoved at the robes. 

Lips were on his own, then on his jaw, his throat, his collar bone, finally coming to rest at the circular scar Stephen had been so inquisitive about. 

He felt a wet, warm tongue trace it slowly, Stephen’s hands on him gentle as one caressed his hair while the other stroked up and down his bare thigh very slowly, reaching slightly higher each time. 

“Stephen!” Tony almost pleaded, pulling at the loose robes still hanging off of the Sorcerer.   
Stephen didn’t hesitate to follow the pull and claim his lips again before sliding along his neck. 

“You don’t know what it is you do to me...” Stephen murmured, kissing the unmarked skin he’d found. 

Tony expected the sting of teeth, but it never came.

There was only softness, and then Stephen’s hand stroking up his thigh, Tony gasping when that hand wrapped around him, every pull and slide agonisingly slow. 

He was flushed and sweating, his legs open as an invitation to touch him more, touch him everywhere. 

Stephen found his pulse point and sucked, making Tony tilt his head back and rock into Stephen’s hand, mindless and trembling with desire while his other swept lower. 

“I meant what I said, Tony.” Stephen murmured, nuzzling Tony’s hair and breathing heavily, making him shiver, “I love you.”

Tony felt a slick finger press into him and his hips snapped forward as he cried out.   
It pressed deep within him and he wanted more.   
Needed more.   
He felt like his very blood was on fire and Stephen was the only one who could save him, least he burn alive right here. 

Stephen wet his lips, “I know you’ve felt the same emptiness I have, and have tried to fill it with everything but what it wants. What it needs.” 

Tony rolled his hips up into the hardness he could feel straining the pants Stephen had yet to remove, the hand around him stilling for a moment as the Sorcerer hissed in a breath before adding a second finger. 

“You’ve always felt it. Haven’t you?”

“Yes!” Tony sighed, his hands gripping the cloak beneath him as he fucked himself on those long slender digits, “Yes, Stephen!”

Stephen growled as he drank in the sight, curling his fingers and making Tony’s body arch deliciously. 

Tony’s eyes were framed by wet lashes as they opened and found his when he removed them. 

He didn’t say anything when Stephen leant over to take his hand, clasping it gently. 

He looked back up at him, something soft and vulnerable swimming in those dark depths. 

Stephen kissed him gently as he circled the slick tip of his cock around and around, pressing slightly against him until, with a slight groan, he sunk into Tony’s body. 

Tony cried out, his body tightening around him, his hand gripping Stephen’s firmly and his legs trapping him as he slowly slid deeper within him, the possessive growl ringing in his ears making his body shake. 

“Tony?” 

Stephen’s voice reached him and he opened his eyes once more. 

Those scarred fingers were carding through his hair, relaxing him, and their lips met once more as Stephen began a slow steady rhythm. 

Stephen shoved his tongue into Tony’s mouth, revelling in feeling Tony’s own sliding against it.   
Nails dug into his arm and he burried his head into Tony’s neck, pushing in deeper and deeper as his breaths became heavier and heavier. 

“Stephen!” Tony whined in his ear

His lust spiked through his veins at the plea and, forgetting his wish to be gentle, changed his angle slightly as he pounded in and out of him, fisting Tony’s cock in harsh strokes. 

“Stephen!”

“Yes!” Stephen panted, “Yes, Tony.”

As Tony arched up into him, his orgasm ripping through him, Stephen thrust twice more and sank his teeth into Tony’s shoulder as he could hold himself back no longer from his own release. 

For a time they remained like that, taking steady breaths to calm their racing heartbeat, kissing slowly because they could, whispering to each other as they tried to work out exactly what they wanted from this. 

Stephen wanted a relationship.   
He wanted Tony exclusively to himself.   
He wanted his scars to be the first thing he saw every morning. Each and every morning. 

And Tony wanted that too. 

He knew it in his heart, in his soul, that what he wanted more than anything else in the world, was Stephen. 

And Cloaky, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, I bid these characters farewell, but even though I won’t be writing any more for this au, I got a few ideas for another au I’m working on. 
> 
> Also, make sure to check out my tumblr if you haven’t already! I’m currently writing movie aus on there every night!
> 
> See you in the next fic!


End file.
